Rithvik Dhanjani Recalls Casting Couch Experience: 'I Was Only 20, I Froze When He Touched Me'
Rithvik Dhanjani revealed a shocking casting couch incident from his early days in Mumbai, recalling how he froze in fear during the encounter and almost quit acting afterwards.
Rithvik Dhanjani, a well-known face on Indian television with shows like Bandini, Pyaar Ki Yeh Ek Kahaani, Pavitra Rishta, Nach Baliye and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, recently opened up about a disturbing experience from his early days in Mumbai. The actor revealed that he once faced a traumatic casting couch encounter when he was just starting out in the industry — a memory that still haunts him today.
Rithvik Dhanjani recalls casting couch experience
On the podcast Two Girls & Two Cups, Rithvik described those first days in Mumbai, waiting outside Aram Nagar for auditions, when a man suddenly pulled him out of the line with a flattering announcement. “That guy took me inside the studio and said, ‘You are shortlisted.’ I was shocked, it felt like an angel had come from nowhere, taken me out of the line and said I was shortlisted. I was elated, and I started thanking him,” Rithvik said. “Then he said I had to come to his office right away, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
What began as a seemingly lucky break quickly turned ominous. When Rithvik asked for the office address, the director insisted on accompanying him and even rode pillion on the actor’s bike. “I should have realized right then that something was wrong,” Rithvik said on the podcast. “Someone so prominent should have a car, and if not a car then at least a two-wheeler. He was sitting behind me on my bike, can you imagine?”
As they neared the location, name-dropping and boasts left Rithvik impressed — until he realised the “office” was a nondescript lane with a grocery shop and a bun-maska stall. Led into a locked gate and up a set of dark stairs, he began to fear for his safety. “I saw there were no offices, there was a grocery shop, a bun-maska stall. I kept thinking, ‘Does he really do casting here? That can’t be.’ He asked me to come inside and led me into a narrow lane; I assumed there might be a bungalow at the end. Instead, there was a gate with a huge lock. He opened it and inside it was completely dark, with stairs going up. He said, ‘Come up, this is my office.’ I swear I peed my pants, by then I had realized something was off, this is not right.”
Once upstairs, the director’s conversation shifted from work to something far more sinister. Rithvik showed his showreel, but the man interrupted the tape, praised his “work ethic,” and then made unwanted advances. “The moment he touched me, I froze. I was terrified inside, I was only 20 years old. I was shaking. Somehow I managed to get out of there.”
Rithvik thought of abandoning his dream
The incident left Rithvik deeply distressed; he went straight to a friend and considered abandoning his dream. “My friend consoled me and said this happens in the industry, that it’s not a big deal. But it took me a long time to get over it,” he said. Looking at the industry now, he expressed guarded optimism but also a burning desire for accountability. “I really hope so. I want all these predators to be caught and I need people to speak up. Now, if I see a person like that I can thrash him very severely, that’s the kind of anger I have. That also comes as a trauma response, because back then I was helpless; I couldn’t do anything. If anything like this happens to anyone, they really need to speak up.”
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