Sanaya Irani Recalls Casting Couch Incident, 'Rude' Bollywood Director Asked: ‘Are You Okay Wearing...’

Sanaya Irani, well-known for her roles as Khushi in Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon and Gunjan in Miley Jab Hum Tum, recently shared a casting couch experience. The actress, who has felt typecast because of her complexion, recounted an incident where a major Bollywood director was very rude to her over the phone. She also mentioned a South film director who told her, “We need fuller people.”

In an interview with Hautterfly, Sanaya talked about her life, from childhood to her early acting days. When asked if she had faced any casting couch situations, she shared a few stories. Sanaya shared an experience from the South film industry where she was asked to meet someone for a movie role. Even though she wasn’t keen on doing films, she agreed to the meeting. She recalled, “Long ago, a person from the South wanted to meet me for a film. At that point, I didn’t want to do films. But, this person was hellbent in meeting me. So I just went, and after meeting, he was like ‘we need a little fuller person’. And I was like ‘then I am not the fuller person.’” She also wondered, “A lot of times, I feel that people meet girls in the industry to meet them, to suss it out–is she the kind who slept or hasn’t slept.”

Sanaya shared another experience where she was asked by a prominent Bollywood director’s secretary to call him. When Sanaya said she wasn’t interested in a music video, the secretary insisted, saying the director would be upset if she didn’t at least speak to him. “I made a call to a him after his secretary asked me to call him. When I did, he said, I am entering into a meeting, call me after half an hour. So I called him after 45 minutes thinking I will give him some time. And when I called, he was like what’s the time? I just blurted out the time. And he was like what time did I ask you to call me? I was like you asked me to call at 11:30 and again he was like what’s the time? Now this time, I was like is he really throwing attitude at me? Because I am not buying this. So I said, ‘Is this what we are talking about or are we moving forward? I just gave you a little bit grace that I shouldn’t be calling exactly in half an hour’”, she added.

“So he was like, ‘I am making this big film, there are many big heroes in it and you will have to wear a bikini.’ And I was like, ‘And my character is?’ and he was like ‘are you okay wearing a bikini?’ He was getting a little rude to me and I hung up on him”, concluded Sanaya.