Zeeshan Khan says he faced casting couch, was told ‘I want to see your legs’ after being asked to take T-shirt off

Television actor Zeeshan Khan, who was recently seen as a contestant on Bigg Boss OTT, opened up about his casting couch experience. He said that he was called for a meeting by a casting director of a ‘really nice production house’ and asked to strip.

Zeeshan said that the incident took place after his second show when he was already ‘semi-known’. He added that it was a personal choice for people who wanted to give in to such advances and he was not someone who would say ‘how dare you’ if he was propositioned. “I understand your feelings but I don’t want to do it, so can we just focus on the professional part of it and move on?” he said.

Speaking on Zoom’s By Invite Only, Zeeshan said that a casting director called him to his office for a meeting. “So, he calls me there and he is like, ‘You know what, this guy is like a college baddie, so I want to see how physically fit you are. Can you take your T-shirt off?’ I was like, ‘Okay, I am cool with that.’ I take my T-shirt off. After that, he is like, ‘I want to see your legs because a lot of people work only on their upper body and not their lower body’.”

Zeeshan understood something was amiss at this point and told the casting director that he was not comfortable stripping. “He is like, ‘Arre yaar, ab toh samajh hi gaya hoga tu (You must have understood by now)’. I am like, ‘Main samajh gaya (I understood) sir, but I am not one of those people. I will give an audition, I would love to work with you and I still want to, I am not bothered about all of this.’ He goes on to tell me, ‘Tujhe pata hai, yeh hi seat par aake bohot saare log baithe hai (You know, so many people sat in the same seat where you are sitting today and look where they are now)’,” the actor said.

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The casting director then named a few stars and claimed that he was responsible for their success. Zeeshan told him that it was their choice, and he would not want to resort to a compromise. The casting director then told him that many say no at first, only to come back a month later, willing to do anything to get work.

Zeeshan said that he ‘won’t be able to sleep at night peacefully’ if he got projects on the basis of anything else other than merit. He added that he would be happy ‘living a very simple life, doing a very simple job’ if things did not work out.