“Mumbai mein aane ke baad pata chala ki sirf ladkiyon ko darr nahin rehta yahan, ladkon ko bhi darr rehta hai,” says reality show star Shiv Thakare, who admits that he faced casting couch in the early days of his showbiz journey.

Earlier this week, actor-MP Ravi Kishan, too, made a startling revelation on the show Aap Ki Adalat when he said that he was propositioned in lieu of a chance to act in movies.

Thakare hails from Amravati (Maharashtra) and has been auditioning in Mumbai since 2015. The aspiring actor narrates, “I once went for an audition in Aram Nagar (Mumbai), and he (the casting director) took me to the bathroom and said, ‘Yahan pe massage centre hai’. I didn’t get the connection between an audition and a massage centre. But he told me, ‘Ek baar aap aao yahan audition ke baad...’ Since he was a casting director and I didn’t want to take any panga, I just left that place. But I realized there is no discrimination between men and women when it comes to this (casting couch).”

The 33-year-old also mentions a “woman in Four Bungalows (a neighbourhood in Mumbai)” who tried to “manipulate and demotivate” him by scheduling “an audition late at night” and then telling him he “wouldn’t get work” if he didn’t comply.

“She would tell me, ‘Maine isko banaya hai, maine usko banaya hai’ (helped people become stars). She would call me for an audition at 11 pm. But main itna bhola toh nahin hoon ki I won’t understand what [kind of] auditions happen at night. So, I told her that I have some work and I cannot make it. To this, she said, ‘Kaam nahin karna hai?’ ‘You won’t get work in the industry’ and many other things.”

Additionally, people have also asked him for “money, promising good gigs in return”. “I just knew this basic thing: If I don’t fit in a character, no one can push me for a role,” says Thakare, who, despite these challenges, is now a familiar face on pap’s feeds, given his stints in reality shows such as Roadies and Bigg Boss.