Fatima Shaikh calls out casting directors ‘fraudulent’: They take 15 percent of payment
Fatima Sana Shaikh talks about fraudulent casting directors who exploit struggling actors by demanding 15 percent of their earnings. She also recalled troubling casting couch experiences early in her career.
Actress Fatima Sana Shaikh, who rose to fame with Aamir Khan’s film Dangal, talks about the exploitation of aspiring actors by some casting directors and reveals her experience with casting couch early in her career. He clarified that while ‘reputable’ casting directors avoid such practices, some individuals are ‘fraudsters’ who demand a cut of struggling actors’ earnings.
in an interview with bollywood bubbleFatima shared how casting directors used to ask struggling actors to provide their names as references in their audition forms, even when it didn’t help them secure auditions. He also revealed that once an actor gets an advertisement or any other project, he gets paid only after the casting director’s cut.
“Even if we auditioned verbally, the casting director would ask us to write our references. This means you have to give them 15 percent of your payment, even if you don’t know them at all,” said Fatima. He said that most struggling actors get information about auditions from fellow actors in similar situations.
Fatima emphasized that such practices are not followed by ‘good’ casting directors. He said, “Well-known casting directors wouldn’t do this; There will only be fraud. Of course, Mukesh Chhabra and Anmol Ahuja don’t do this. But there are also shady individuals who take advantage of young, struggling actors who are new to town and don’t know much.”
During the conversation, Fatima also recalled a disturbing incident from the casting couch when a director insisted that she would do “everything”.
“He asked me, ‘You’d be willing to do everything, right?’ I told him I would work hard and do whatever was required for the role, but he kept saying the same. I behaved foolishly because I wanted to see how low he could go,” shared Fatima.
On another occasion, Fatima recalled meeting small producers in Hyderabad, as at one time she believed that South cinema was an important stepping stone to getting good roles in Bollywood.
“We were in a room, and the producers talked about it very openly, hinting that you have to meet people. He wouldn’t say it outright, but it was clear what he meant. However, not everyone is like that,” she said.
Fatima, who was last seen in Sam Bahadur, will next be seen in Anurag Basu’s Metro…In Dino.
