Ouch! Male Casting Couch!
By : Md Mudassir Alam
COUPLE OF DAYS back Sonu Nigam, one of the leading singers of Bollywood broke out a sensational story of ‘Male Casting Couch’ in a newspaper. Sonu Nigam alleged sexual harassment charges against senior film journalist Subhash K Jha. As he broke the news it spread like fire and several news channels unveiled story of ‘Male Casting Couch.’
During the telecast, news channels contacted Sonu Nigam in which he admitted that Subhash K Jha had been harassing him for a long time. On the other hand, Subhash K Jha said that he will go to court and file a case against the singer. According to Sonu Nigam, Subhash K Jha humiliates him every fortnight in his articles. In fact not only Sonu Nigam other celebrities are also on his hit list who include Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Asha Bhonsle, Anu Malik, Ismail Darbar, Alka Yagnik, Adnaan Sami and so on.
Further Sonu mentioned that Subhash K Jha is a homosexual and the latter had asked him several times to indulge in a relation with him. Sonu said that Subhash used to send him many messages and called him several times. I have his "I miss you and Love you Sonu" and "I am sorry" messages saved in various phones of mine and today I thank God that I never erased them, Sonu added. Just two days after the allegations, someone called the singer who is presently in New Jersey for his show and threatened to kill him. As per Sonu the caller told him, "What you are doing is not good for you; whenever you come back to Mumbai we will kill you." After getting the threatening call Sonu Nigam called his father in Mumbai, who filed an FIR at a police station for safety.
Now the question is, does casting couch exist in Bollywood? Broadly speaking, it exists and most of the newcomers face such situations and they have to compromise for their career. In fact, earlier only female stars were the victims of such practices, but the story of Sonu Nigam has brought another aspect of casting couch to the fore that is ‘Male Casting Couch.’
We all know very well that casting couch has been flourishing in Bollywood for a long time and people from film fraternity themselves have come up with such stories in their films. In 2005 noted director Madhur Bhandarkar made the super-hit film ‘Page 3’, which brought the harsh truth of life of celebrities before the common people. The plot of the film revolved around the celebrities and it also portrayed various types of relations that include homosexual relation between a make-up man and a struggling actor. In a particular scene when Tara Sharma an aspiring actress goes to meet a director for getting a role in his film, she is asked to sleep with the director.
Recently Anurag Basu’s ‘Life in a Metro’ was based on extra-marital affairs, pre-marital sex and many other relations. So we can’t deny the fact that a number of producers, directors and other people from glamour world of Bollywood indulge in such appalling acts. Whether Sonu Nigam is correct or not, it has not been proven yet and we have to wait for the truth.
On the whole, common people can’t help them or understand what is going on behind the glitter of this glamour world. Now, it’s for the film fraternity to cope with cases as weird as this. Next it depends on the aspiring actors or actresses whether they compromise for their career or go strongly against the people who exploit them.
During the telecast, news channels contacted Sonu Nigam in which he admitted that Subhash K Jha had been harassing him for a long time. On the other hand, Subhash K Jha said that he will go to court and file a case against the singer. According to Sonu Nigam, Subhash K Jha humiliates him every fortnight in his articles. In fact not only Sonu Nigam other celebrities are also on his hit list who include Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Asha Bhonsle, Anu Malik, Ismail Darbar, Alka Yagnik, Adnaan Sami and so on.
Further Sonu mentioned that Subhash K Jha is a homosexual and the latter had asked him several times to indulge in a relation with him. Sonu said that Subhash used to send him many messages and called him several times. I have his "I miss you and Love you Sonu" and "I am sorry" messages saved in various phones of mine and today I thank God that I never erased them, Sonu added. Just two days after the allegations, someone called the singer who is presently in New Jersey for his show and threatened to kill him. As per Sonu the caller told him, "What you are doing is not good for you; whenever you come back to Mumbai we will kill you." After getting the threatening call Sonu Nigam called his father in Mumbai, who filed an FIR at a police station for safety.
Now the question is, does casting couch exist in Bollywood? Broadly speaking, it exists and most of the newcomers face such situations and they have to compromise for their career. In fact, earlier only female stars were the victims of such practices, but the story of Sonu Nigam has brought another aspect of casting couch to the fore that is ‘Male Casting Couch.’
We all know very well that casting couch has been flourishing in Bollywood for a long time and people from film fraternity themselves have come up with such stories in their films. In 2005 noted director Madhur Bhandarkar made the super-hit film ‘Page 3’, which brought the harsh truth of life of celebrities before the common people. The plot of the film revolved around the celebrities and it also portrayed various types of relations that include homosexual relation between a make-up man and a struggling actor. In a particular scene when Tara Sharma an aspiring actress goes to meet a director for getting a role in his film, she is asked to sleep with the director.
Recently Anurag Basu’s ‘Life in a Metro’ was based on extra-marital affairs, pre-marital sex and many other relations. So we can’t deny the fact that a number of producers, directors and other people from glamour world of Bollywood indulge in such appalling acts. Whether Sonu Nigam is correct or not, it has not been proven yet and we have to wait for the truth.
On the whole, common people can’t help them or understand what is going on behind the glitter of this glamour world. Now, it’s for the film fraternity to cope with cases as weird as this. Next it depends on the aspiring actors or actresses whether they compromise for their career or go strongly against the people who exploit them.
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