Veteran Telugu actress Aamani on casting couch in her heydays: I was asked to come alone to guest houses

Much recently, the discussions around casting couch and sexual harassment in the Indian film industry have started doing the rounds in the mainstream media. After Hollywood’s rekindling of conscience (of sorts) with campaigns like #MeToo and Time’s Up, this subject has struck a chord with artists and creatives across the globe. India, too, has not remained untouched. Telugu veteran actress Aamani recently corroborated the fact that casting couch does indeed exist in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. According to a report by India Today, the actress revealed that she had also been asked for sexual favours covertly, if not ourightly, during her heydays. [caption id=“attachment_4661201” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  File picture of Telugu actress Aamani. Facebook[/caption] However, she added that these offers would usually come from new, emerging production houses. She would often receive calls that asked her to come to guest houses, that too alone, without her mother. She could sense their intentions and hence never went ahead with their proposals. She also added that the established production houses would never indulge in such indecency, reports India Today. Aamani was a leading actress in the Telugu film industry opposite heroes like Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, Vijayakanth and Mammootty. She has starred in a range of successful films like Jamba Lakidi Pamba, Nakshatra Poratam, Subha Lagnam, Amma Donga and Vamshanikokkadu to name a few. The actress took a break from cinema post her marriage. She returned to the big screen just a few years ago. The focus on a much-prevalent issue of casting couch in Telugu cinema was brought by Sri Reddy who later alleged many A-list actors and producers of sexual misconduct. Recently, Bollywood actress Swara Bhasker also revealed how she was sexually harassed on the sets at the beginning of her career, as per a report by Hindustan Times.