Casting couch does exist: Kashmira Shah

The bogey of casting couch so clamorously invoked by Payal Rohatgi now has another celebrity vouching for it -- Kashmira Shah.

Kashmira Shah has reiterated exactly what Ranveer Singh, the handsome lad from Band Baaja Baaraat, recently stated: that casting couch does exist in Bollywood but it’s among the small-budget filmmakers.

“Casting couch exists as far as smaller films are concerned...B and C grade types. I feel sad for Payal because she is a talented girl who could do much better. Unfortunately with her exposing this thing, she has not got the backing that she should have got from women,” Kashmira is quoted as saying by a news agency.

Payal recently accused filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee of making an indecent proposal while she auditioned for his next film. Payal also alleged that Dibakar finds it hard to be monogamous and sees a psychiatrist to stay faithful to his wife. In response, Banerjee has tagged Payal as ‘unstable’. He says that Payal is maligning him because she was not chosen for the part.

Kashmira Shah, who now seems to be speaking in Payal’s defence, says she doesn’t see any reason why Payal would lie just for publicity.

“I didn't meet or had a word with Payal. But Payal doesn't seem the kind of a person who would lie about something like this. But unfortunately our industry has seen this trend where Mamta Kulkarni came up with something like this and she got out. Nobody wanted to work with her again,” Kashmira said.

What Kashmira’s implying is that any actress who dares to let out the sordid truth is often ostracised by the folks in B-town.