Rajeev Khandelwal recalls shocking casting couch experience, warning from popular filmmaker: ‘He said look into my…'

Rajeev Khandelwal is currently impressing the audience with his performance as the arrogant superstar in Showtime 2. The actor is busy promoting the show and during an interview, the actor recalled a shocking casting couch experience. 

In an interview with Siddharth Kanan, Rajeev Khandelwal recalled facing the casting couch by a popular Bollywood filmmaker and said, “I didn’t create a scene or anything, but I as good as gave him a middle finger and left.” Asked if the person in question was a popular figure, Rajeev said, “Yes. He’d just given a Rs 100 crore film recently. He said this to me. He said, ‘I’ve just delivered a 100-crore hit, you’re saying no to me?'”

Recalling the incident, Rajeev Khandelwal said, “He wouldn’t show me a script, but insisted on singing a song for me. Imagine the situation. You’re sitting across somebody who is telling you, ‘I was told you’re a drop-dead gorgeous man, but I don’t see it. But there’s something very masculine about you. I got the hint. He asked if I wanted to do his film, but I told him I needed to see a script first. He said, ‘I don’t give my scripts to anybody, but I like you, so I’ll sing a song for you’.”

Rajeev recalled patiently listening while the producer sang, “He said, ‘Look into my eyes while I sing’, and I wondered if I’m on MTV Bakra.” The actor further recalled what happened next and said, “When he was done, he asked me again if I was doing the film, and I repeated that I would need to see a script. He got up, showed me the door, walked me to my car, and said, ‘I was going to sign you for a two-film deal, let me see where you reach in life’.” 

Rajeev Khandelwal concluded that he then starred in Aamir and even invited that producer, but he didn’t show up. He added that the person was recently attempting to ‘revive’ an old project, but isn’t ‘very active’ these days.

Helmed by Mihir Desai and Archit Kumar, and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, Showtime also stars Emraan Hashmi, Mahima Makwana, Shriya Saran, and Mouni Roy in key roles. The show is available to watch on Disney+ Hotstar

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