‘I did face the casting couch’

Though actor Amrapali Gupta encountered this in Bollywood, she vouches that the TV industry is free of it

Amrapali Gupta, who plays the cunning daughter-in-law Bindiya in ‘Teen Bahuraniyaan’ (Zee) shares that she had to struggle before she landed this plum role.

She admits that she was accosted by the ‘casting couch’ syndrome in the beginning of her career. Amrapali says, “I did face the casting couch when I had gone to sign a film; but I don’t want to name the person. Most people in the film industry are like that. But thankfully, the television industry has been spared of it.”

Apparently, she was merely 18 when she was accosted but she stood by her principles even if that meant losing the film. But that hasn’t deterred her from trying her luck in the glamour industry. Amrapali still looks forward to a bright future and adds that she wants to be a superstar.

She says, “Rani Mukherji has been my role model and I would like to do the kind of films that she has done. But to work with Shah Rukh Khan is my ultimate dream.”

Amrapali adds, “Success won’t descend on you. You have to earn it. To reach one’s goal is essential but reaching it through the right means is more important.”

A little known fact about Amrapali is that she carries her stuffed teddy bears to the sets. She laughs and says, “Yes, I do carry them along. But my co-stars also play with them.”

Interestingly, the child-like Amrapali is hardly like her on-screen persona. She narrates, “I am like a child in real life. Once when I was playing games at a mall, I saw some children laughing at me. They were probably surprised to see a daughter-in-law playing games.”

Further differentiating herself from her character, she says, “I know cooking and I love reading. Plus, I don’t manipulate people.”

Amrapali had recently appeared in a music video titled ‘Chatni Mix’, which didn’t go down too well with the audience. Amrapali explains, “The production values weren’t good enough,” she defends.