Sherlyn Chopra reveals ‘dinner’ is code word for casting couch in Bollywood: ‘I used to be clueless about it’

Casting couch is grim reality in Bollywood and Sherlyn Chopra has been at the receiving end of it as well. In an interview, she shared that when she was starting out in the industry, she would be invited by filmmakers to ‘dinner’ at midnight. She added that she was naive back then and did not understand their true intentions.

“Initially, when I was a nobody in the eyes of the world, I would often approach filmmakers hoping that they would see in me the potential that I saw in me. I would go to them with my portfolio and they would be like ‘Achcha okay, theek hai, hum milte hai dinner par (Okay, let us meet for dinner)’. And I would be like, ‘When should I come for dinner?’, and they would tell me to come at 11 or 12 in the night. And I used to be clueless about it that time,” she told Koimoi in an interview.

Sherlyn took some time to understand that the filmmakers did not have a professional dinner in mind. “For them, dinner means compromise. So when this happened like four to five times, then I realised, ‘So, that is what dinner stands for!’ Dinner means, ‘Come to me, baby.’”

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After Sherlyn understood the filmmakers’ intentions, she found a way to politely let them know that she was not interested. “Then I decided, ‘Mujhe dinner hi nahi karna (I don’t want to have dinner only).’ Then I would tell the ones who approached me with that code word, ‘Main dinner nahi karti hoon, mera diet chal raha hai. Aap breakfast par bula lo, lunch par bula lo (I don’t eat dinner, I am dieting. You can meet me for breakfast or lunch).’ And they would never ever revert to me,” she said.

Sherlyn has acted in films such as Jawani Diwani: A Youthful Joyride, Dil Bole Hadippa! And Red Swastik. She has also participated in the popular reality show Bigg Boss 3 and hosted the sixth season of MTV Splitsvilla.