Veteran choreographer Saroj Khan has come under scrutiny after her recent comments defending the casting couch culture. She said, “Casting couch provides livelihood. Taking advantage of a girl is done with her consent. Women are not sexually abused and dumped. They are given livelihood.”
The choreographer, responsible for creating some of the most memorable Bollywood song-and-dance sequences over her long and storied career, made the remarks in response to a question about Telugu actress Sri Reddy stripping on a road to protest against Tollywood’s alleged casting couch culture. She said that the practice wasn’t exploitative and instead helped performers with their career and it was all done with consent. This caused quite the backlash, as one would expect.
She has since apologized for her comments