Casting couch is very much a reality in Indian cinema. Countless actresses have recalled horror tales from their days of struggle when they have had to face harassment or pressure to cosy up to big stars or filmmakers for that big break. However, many say they refused to buckle under this pressure. Actress Sai Tamhankar, a known name in Hindi and Marathi cinema, recently recounted her own experience of facing this and how she dealt with it.
Sai Tamhankar’s casting couch experience
In an interview with Miss Malini, Sai recalled that a random person called asking her to sleep with the director and producer of a film. “He said, ‘I have a film and all that but there is something. You’ll have to sleep with the director and the producer. Generally, you have to sleep with the hero as well but since it is you, I am saying producer and director.’ And I said, ‘Why don’t you send your mom’.” The actress added that the man then fell silent and she further rebuked him, “He went silent for 10 seconds. I told him that now you understood that you are not supposed to call me ever again and post that I hung up.” Sai said that after she refused the proposal, nothing such ever came to her again, meaning people understood that she was not to be treated this way. “That phone call never happened ever again. You should voice out everything you feel that is not right,” the actress added.
Sai Tamhankar’s beginning as an extra and rise to stardom
Sai was born in a Marathi family in Sangli and began acting in plays in school and college. She made her acting debut with side roles in Marathi TV shows at the age of 17. In her initial Bollywood films too, she was largely an extra. One of her first roles was in the Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini in which she played a friend of Jiah Khan’s character. By the end of the decade, she began to be noticed for her performance in Marathi cinema in films like Zhakaas, Rita, among others. In Bollywood, her first noteworthy performance was in the 2015 release Hunterrr, followed by important roles in Love Sonia and Mimi. She was last seen as a cop in the Netflix film Bhakshak.
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