Mumbai: When several actors have fearlessly opened up about their casting couch experience in the industry on multiple occasions, none has ever dared to talk about the sexuality of Bollywood actors.
However, senior journalist Simi Chandoke made shocking revelations in a recent interview.
Chandoke claimed that actors never admit or talk about their sexuality publicly because they fear that their fans might not accept them for who they are.
“Suppose a Bollywood hero openly admits that he is gay or bisexual. When he appears on screen romancing a heroine, will audiences accept him the same way?” Simi was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
She alleged that actors are hesitant to work with a homosexual director fearing casting couch situations.
“There are several directors — I won’t name them — but there is one particular director who has worked with actors like Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, and others. Everyone knows he is gay. He has never been in a long-term relationship with a woman, except one very brief relationship that ended abruptly,” Simi added.
“If a director openly comes out about his sexuality, many leading actors would hesitate to work with him. They fear the casting couch.”
“Many actors have admitted that they were asked to compromise during their struggling days. Ayushmann Khurrana and Ranveer Singh have openly spoken about being subjected to such situations,” she revealed.
Recollecting how Shah Rukh Khan’s sexuality once became talk of the town when the actor called himself a ‘tri-sexual’, the journalist said, “Once, Shah Rukh Khan was questioned about his closeness with Karan Johar. Being his witty self, he replied, ‘I am tri-sexual.’ The statement was so strong and clever that it immediately shut down speculation.”
Dismissing rumours about his sexuality, SRK had once told TOI, “I don’t do men, I don’t do women. I am happily in love with my wife. I like that line from Sex and the City — I am tri-sexual. I try anything that’s sexual. Okay, I am tri-sexual. No, hey, cut that out.”
