Vidya Balan Reveals What She Did When A Director “Insisted” She Go To His Hotel Room

In her most recent interview, Vidya Balan, who has always been outspoken about subjects that are typically ignored, described how she once handled a challenging scenario with a director. In an interview with Humans Of Bombay, the actress was questioned about her experiences with the casting couch in show business.

Vidya Balan said she has always been “extremely fortunate” because she never had a “tryst with the casting couch,” but she did once had a meeting with a director who “insisted” they go to his hotel room. The actress “did a smart thing,” nevertheless, and left the hotel room door ajar so the director would be aware “that the only route for him was out.”

Vidya Balan, in the interview, said, “I’ve actually not really had a tryst with the casting couch. I’ve been very, very fortunate, because I’ve heard horror stories, and that was my parents’ biggest fear, because they were resistant to me joining films. But the one incident I had… I remember, on one of my films that I had been signed to do, I was meeting with the director because I was visiting Chennai for an ad film shoot.” She added that they met in a coffee shop but he “kept insisting that ‘we go to my room and chat’.”

“I didn’t understand, because I was alone,” said Vidya Balan and continued, “But I did a very smart thing. When we went to the room, I left the door open. And then he knew that the only way for him was out. So, I don’t really believe that I’ve had an experience with the casting couch. There was no suggestion made, there was no proposition made. But this was a sense, a vibe I picked up. And I reacted to it. Self-preservation kicks in, and a woman’s instinct…And then I got thrown out of that film.”