Rajeev Khandelwal Opens Up About Casting Couch: 'I Didn’t Feel Dirty From Inside. In My Head, I Abused That Person'

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who was recently seen in Shahid Kapoor’s film ‘Bloody Daddy’. The actor recently shared his experience with the casting couch in the industry.

Rajeev Khandelwal was recently seen in Shahid Kapoor’s film ‘Bloody Daddy’. ( Image Source :Instagram/@simplyrajeev )

New Delhi: Actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who was once a television heartthrob, was recently seen in Shahid Kapoor’s film ‘Bloody Daddy’. The actor recently shared his experience with the casting couch in the industry. He also shared how things get more momentum when it comes to women facing the casting couch than men. 

In an interview with India Today, the actor said, “People talk about women’s safety, but men, too, have their own challenges. Men don’t report it as much and women’s things get a lot of momentum. Having said that, I have also faced casting couch. For some odd reason, our society feels ‘Ha theek hain, ladka hain, manage kar liya hoga isne’.” 

He also said that things have improved drastically. 

“So, it has become a part of a system where we feel more for women. Having said that, things have improved drastically. Men, yes, have to go through it. They are stronger made, physically and mentally, probably to tide over it. A woman, if she’s scarred, the way she is made, I think they are more sensitive, emotional, when it comes to certain things. If they are scarred, they carry it for a longer period of time, is how I would like to believe,” he told India Today. 

Speaking about his experience facing the casting couch, the actor said, “Men, I think, can overcome. They are made like that, I believe. Tomorrow, if I go through casting couch.. I have said it in the past also.. but you come back and say, ‘Oh, I have dealt with it and I am back’. I have heard from a lot of women that they feel dirty from inside. I didn’t feel dirty from inside. In my head, I abused that person and said ‘Sorry boss, I am not going to give in to that’. Men and women are made differently but things have changed drastically.” 

The actor played an antagonist in Ali Abbas Zafar directed ‘Bloody Daady.’