How to break into Bollywood if you aren’t Priyanka Chopra: from bad roles to MeToo, inside the world’s largest film industry

India is the world’s largest producer of films, but forging a career in the industry can be a challenge. Aspiring stars must beware its ‘casting couch’ culture

One casting director for advertisements says the number of actors vying for roles, as a step to film work, has more than doubled since 2014

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Aspiring actress Malhaar Rathod’s previous experience with what is known as Bollywood's “casting couch” culture underlines the challenges facing anyone seeking to break into the world’s largest film industry. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:30am, 8 Jan 2020Updated: 10:30am, 8 Jan 2020

It took a minute for Malhaar Rathod, then an aspiring teenage actress, to realise what the 65-year-old Indian film producer was asking her to do – and to make the decision to walk away.

“He claimed he had a part for me and then asked me to lift my top. I got so scared, I didn’t know what to do at first,” Rathod, now an up-and-coming television star, says in Mumbai.

Her experience with what is euphemistically known as Bollywood’s “casting couch” culture underlines the challenges facing anyone seeking to break into India’s massive, insiders-only film industry, where the #MeToo movement has secured few wins.

After MeToo triggered the downfall of top Hollywood power brokers such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, many women in Bollywood spoke up about their experience of sexual harassment, breaking a long-established culture of silence.

Malhaar Rathod was a teenage actress when a 65-year-old Indian film producer asked her to lift her top up. Photo: AFP

The Indian industry has largely looked the other way, however, and many of the alleged perpetrators have been able to revive their careers after lying low for a few months.