Actor Rithvik Dhanjani, who is a known face across Television, has opened up about a deeply disturbing casting couch experience he faced at a tender age of 20.
Speaking on the Two Girls and Two Cups podcast, the actor recalled the most unsettling encounter that took place in Mumbai’s Aram Nagar, which is famous for its casting offices and auditions for budding actors.
Rithvik remembered being picked out of a long line of hopeful actors by a 'prominent' casting director. “That guy took me inside the studio and said, ‘You are shortlisted.’ I was shocked, it felt like an angel had come from nowhere, taken me out of the line and said I was shortlisted. I was elated, and I started thanking him,” he said.
The casting director then insisted that he follow him to his office immediately. “Then he said I had to come to his office right away, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”
When the director asked how Rithvik had reached for his audition, the actor replied that he was on a bike.
The casting director responded, “Okay, I’ll sit behind you. I should have realised right then that something was wrong. Someone so prominent should have a car, and if not a car, then at least a two-wheeler. He was sitting behind me on my bike, can you imagine?"
During the ride, the man boasted about the actors he had launched, which left the young Rithvik impressed and hopeful. But the moment they arrived at the so-called office, his suspicion grew.
“I saw there were no offices, there was a grocery shop, a bun-maska stall. I kept thinking, ‘Does he really do casting here? That can’t be.’”
The director then led him through a narrow lane to a locked gate. “Inside it was completely dark, with stairs going up. He then said: ‘Come up, this is my office.’ I swear I peed my pants… I had realised something was off, this is not right.”
Once upstairs, things took a terrifying turn. After watching part of Rithvik’s showreel, the man casually said, “In the industry, you don’t have to work hard; you have to work smart,” and then he began touching him.
“The moment he touched me, I froze. I was terrified inside. I was only 20 years old. I was shaking. Somehow, I managed to get out of there,” Rithvik recalled.
Later he confided in a friend who told him that it keeps happening in the industry. “My friend consoled me and said this happens in the industry, that it’s not a big deal. But it took me a long time to get over it.”
Rithvik said though after that incident he didn't get work but eventually went on to become one of Indian television’s most successful and loved faces. He made his debut with Pavitra Rishta.
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