Vidya Balan Reveals What She Did When A Director “Insisted” She Go To His Hotel Room

Vidya Balan shared this image. (courtesy: balanvidya)

Vidya Balan, who has always been outspoken about issues that are otherwise swept under the rug, recalled how she handled an uncomfortable situation with a director once in her latest interview. The actress was asked about her ordeals with the casting couch in showbiz in an interview with Humans Of Bombay. Vidya Balan revealed that she has always been “very fortunate” as she never had a “tryst with the casting couch” but once, a director “insisted” they go to his hotel room when they met for work. However, the actress “did a smart thing” – she left the door of the hotel room open so that the director knew “that the only way for him was out.” 

Vidya Balan, in the interview, said, “I’ve actually not really had a tryst with the casting couch. I’ve been very, very fortunate, because I’ve heard horror stories, and that was my parents’ biggest fear, because they were resistant to me joining films. But the one incident I had… I remember, on one of my films that I had been signed to do, I was meeting with the director because I was visiting Chennai for an ad film shoot.” She added that they met in a coffee shop but he “kept insisting that ‘we go to my room and chat’.” 

“I didn’t understand, because I was alone,” said Vidya Balan and continued, “But I did a very smart thing. When we went to the room, I left the door open. And then he knew that the only way for him was out. So, I don’t really believe that I’ve had an experience with the casting couch. There was no suggestion made, there was no proposition made. But this was a sense, a vibe I picked up. And I reacted to it. Self-preservation kicks in, and a woman’s instinct…And then I got thrown out of that film.”

On the work front, Vidya Balan was last seen alongside Shefali Shah in the critically-acclaimed film Jalsa. Her upcoming projects include Neeyat and Lovers.