EXCLUSIVE: Kirti Kulhari recalls her ‘funny & casual’ casting couch incident with South director; says, “I was not offended…”

Kirti Kulhari was born and brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra. Her family hails from Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan. Her father was a Commander in the Indian Navy. She married actor Saahil Sehgal in 2016 and announced her separation from him on 1 April 2021. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Bubble, Kirti Kulhari opens up on encountering a casting couch incident in the South.

Kirti Kulhari on casting couch incident

 When asked if she has encountered any casting couch incidents, Kirti Kulhari said, “Nahi aisa kuch, I haven’t really faced any of that. I do remember ki once there was somebody from the south and I went for a meeting. And that person and obviously hum casting couch kabse sunte aa rahe hai right? So in my head I’m also like, sunti reheti hu but I never really see it. This was at the beginning of my career. And I remember going to this meeting.”

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The actress added, “And I remember this person finished the meeting and said something and I reconfirmed like. Is this the moment that he is going to ask me about that thing that I have been hearing about forever I asked him, “Um do you mean casting couch?” and he’s like “Yeah” and in my head I almost had a giggle inside because I was like oh fuck like, itna suna hai iske baare me, aise hota hai? Is this how they ask it, is this how they do it? Matlab, of course, I said no, but in my head, I was just amused by it you know.”

Kirti reveals she was not offended

She continued, “And the thing is, I was very surprised. I was not offended by it ki arre aise kaise mujhse puch liya, idk maine itna hawa suna hua tha casting couch ka. And the fact that it happened and it happened in such a funny, casual way toh mujhe uska seriousness register hi nahi hua because it wasn’t serious. In the sense, that someone asked because the whole thing is prevalent,. It’s everywhere, aapko yeh karna padta hai to get something, which is absolute bullshit. And, when that happened in the moment, I just like, I’m like of course not that’s not an option but, okay at least I have a story to tell ki aisa mere saath hua that.”

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Kirti concluded, “Otherwise no yaar, I have been around and pata nahi, jitna log iske baare me baat karte hai. And I’m sure hote honge but, fortunately for me it has not been the case. But, nahi yaar uske alawa bhi acche se kaam hota hai. I just want people to know that, I don’t want to carry forward that image of the industry ki, karna padta hai. Nahi yaar, kuch nahi karna padta hai, aapko agar kuch nahi karna toh nahi karna padta hai. You always have a choice so yeah.”

Written by Akankshya Mukherjee and transcribed by Harsh Nargolkar

Watch the full interview

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