Isha Koppikar on being sexually propositioned in Bollywood
Actress says she had to turn down an illicit offer
Isha Koppikar, who is mostly remembered for her dance songs ‘Khallas’ in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Company’ and ‘Ishq Samandar’ in Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Kaante’, has claimed that she has been sexually propositioned by actors.
Koppikar has also claimed that she was told she would have a role in the Sanjay Dutt-led ‘Kaante’ but her character had to be cut out from the film.
“[I was told that] he is an early morning person and I should meet him between his dubbing and shoot. I said, ‘okay fine I will be there’. He said, ‘who are you coming with?’ I said, ‘I am coming with my driver’. He said, ‘no, don’t come with anybody, because these are the people who spread rumours’. I said, ‘I am always with my staff, I have always been driven by my driver. Why should I drive and come?’ I knew what it was so I told him, ‘I think I am not free tomorrow, let me figure this out. I will let you know’,” Koppikar told Pinkvilla.
She continued: “I immediately called up the producer and said, ‘if you want me for my talent, I am here. But that’s it. You want me to perform for my talent and looks, I cannot be doing all this just for a role’. That is what is intimidating for a lot of actors, when a woman says no, they can’t take it.”
Koppikar also opened up about nepotism.
“There were so many times that I would get a role and then somebody called [the filmmaker]... the father would call or the mother would call and then a starlet would get that part,” she recalled.
About her role in ‘Kaante’ being chopped, she revealed: “I did ‘Ishq Samandar’ also at the same time [as ‘Khallas’]. It was actually supposed to be a role in the film but eventually it was not. I don’t really know what happened. I was told that it’s a role of Sanjay Dutt’s girlfriend. Then they told me they felt the length of the film [‘Kaante’] was too long and they had to shorten so they had to do away with my role.”