Saroj Khan Defends Casting Couch in Bollywood and Her Explanation Will Make You Shake Your Head in Sheer Disbelief
According to choreographer Saroj Khan, the practice is forgivable because in the end, the victim gets away with a job offer!
Casting Couch is one of the most despised practices prevalent in our movie industry for long. Neither Hollywood nor Bollywood nor the South industry is spared of the evil claws of this menace. Wikipedia defines the practice as " is the demanding of sexual favors by an employer or person in a position of power and authority, from an apprentice employee, or subordinate to a superior in return for entry into an occupation, or for other career advancement within an organization." This amounts to sexual harassment. But according to choreographer Saroj Khan, the practice is forgivable because in the end, the victim gets away with a job offer!
No, we are not kidding. Saroj Khan gave this defence when she was one of the panel members on a news channel, where they were debating the vices of casting couch.
Speaking on the topic, Saroj said, "Can I tell you one thing? This has been going on since the beginning of time. It hasn't started now. Someone or the other tries to take advantage of every other girl. The government's people do it too. Then why are you after the film industry? It provides livelihood at lead. Does not rape and leave you. It depends upon the girl, what she wants to do. If you don't want to fall in wrong hands, you won't. If you have art, then why would you sell yourself? Don't take film industry's name, it is everything for us." Check out the video below -
There are so many things wrong with the above defence, with Saroj Khan also getting into victim blaming. Not even once, has the choreographer ostracised the perpetrators. In this time of #Metoo campaign, such regressive statements, especially from a woman, takes us many steps back!
The debate of casting couch got a shot in the arm when actress Sri Reddy raised awareness about it in the Telugu film industry with her public stripping protest in Hyderabad. However, unlike Hollywood, the actresses in Bollywood are not exactly very open to talk about the repercussions of the practice.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2018 09:28 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).