Casting couch row: Aspiring actresses more at fault than producers, says Ollywood actress

Ollywood actress, Rupashree Panda put the blame on aspiring actresses for casting couch cases that have recently hogged the headlines.

"Only producers and casting directors cannot be blamed for casting couch, aspiring actresses are responsible too. Some of them (Actresses) do not have any hesitation to offer their bodies in return for work. Moreover, there are some actresses who trap producers by levelling false casting couch allegations,” said Panda.

“If all of them shun the producer and deny to provide sexual favours, then Casting Couch will be history in Ollywood,” she said.

Asked about the allegations made by some actresses like Jasmine Rath and Prakruti Mishra against producer Sanjay Nayak, Panda said, “The allegations are pointless. If the producer called her to a club at night to discuss a movie, then she should have gone with her family. Actresses anyway work till late in the night. So, no harm in going to a meeting at 10pm. If at all she suspected foul play, then she should have denied the meeting and let the producer take some other actress for his project.”

Earlier, actress Prakruti Mishra had levelled serious allegations of casting couch against film producer Sanjay Nayak aka Tutu Nayak.

However, Nayak refuted the allegations and threatened to file a defamation case against the actresses.

“The industry knows who I am. I would like to thank those Odisha people who supported me as they know who I am. I know Prakruti Mishra as the daughter of Manmath Mishra and I have nothing to do with what she is doing," Nayak had said.