Actress Isha Koppikar, who shared screen space with megastars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in the Don franchise, Salaam-E-Ishq and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? has shared her horrible experiences of the casting couch since she was 18.

“It was never about what you can do. Heroes and actors used to decide. You have heard about #MeToo, and if you had values, it was very difficult. Many actresses left the industry during my time. Either the girls gave in or they gave up. There are very few who are still in the industry and haven’t given up, and I am one of them,” Isha said while talking in an interview with Siddharth Kannan.

“I was 18 when a secretary and an actor approached me for casting couch. They told me that to get work, you have to be ‘friendly’ with actors. I am very friendly, but what does ‘friendly’ mean? I am so friendly that Ekta Kapoor once told me to have some attitude,” the actress recalled.

The Fiza actress also revealed that once an A-list actor of Bollywood asked her to meet him alone. “When I was 23, one actor asked me to meet him alone, without my driver or anyone else, because there were rumours about him being involved with other actresses. He said, ‘There are already controversies about me, and the staff spreads rumours.’ But I refused and told him that I couldn’t come alone. He was an A-list actor from the Hindi film industry,” said Isha.

The Khallas girl also recalled the times when secretaries of stars used to touch her inappropriately. “They wouldn’t just come and touch you inappropriately; they would squeeze your arm and say, ‘Heroes ke sath bahut dosti karni padegi (You will have to be very friendly with the actors),’ in a sleazy way,” said Isha .