South Indian director asked me to sleep with him for a role in film: Popular actress reveals

Indian Television actress Donal Bisht, who rose to fame in the TV industry after appearing in popular shows, including Ek Deewaana Tha and Roop- Mard Ka Naya Swaroop, opened up in a recent interview with a news agency about her casting couch experience in the industry.

Claiming that a south Indian filmmaker had once demanded sexual favours from her to cast her in his project, Donal Bisht mentioned that her courage and determination despite such incidents helped her achieve her dreams. “There was this one time when I was selected for a show, the money was finalised, the dates were given, but then I was dropped out of the project suddenly, citing that the channel wanted another actress. At that time, my family and I were convinced that the entire industry was fake and that people in Mumbai only lie. But then, my hunger for acting couldn’t keep me away from the auditions for long. It led to another incident when a filmmaker, who was apparently from the south film industry, asked me to sleep with him for a role. I immediately filed a police complaint against the person because I worship my work. Even though the struggle will be a bit more, I was sure that I’ll only make my way into the industry in the right way,” the actress was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Donal Bisht is best known for portraying the roles of Sharanya in Ek Deewaana Tha and Ishika Patel in Roop – Mard Ka Naya Swaroop. In 2019, the actress was ranked 18th in TOI’s list of Top 20 Most Desirable Women on TV.