Shama Sikander reveals ‘a superstar’ improvised in ad to hug her inappropriately: ‘I was uncomfortable with his touch’

‘When he tried to hug me, I felt uncomfortable’

When asked about how he ‘hugged her in a very wrong manner’, Shama, without taking any names, said in Hindi, “So hugging me wasn’t a part of the shoot initially. But I feel he wanted to hug me for some reason. You know, you understand the vibe some people have, so when he was shooting with me, he improvised and he said he would put the jewellery on his wife (me). Then I would twirl her and hug her. So when he tried to hug me, I felt that I was uncomfortable with that kind of touch. I had never sensed that before.“

‘It was very shocking and weird for me’

The actor also said, “I have worked with so many people, I have many guy friends, and they have never made me feel that way. It was very shocking and weird for me. I said that man was a superstar why does he have to pull such a stunt? It was a very shocking incident in my life. I had met that person for the first time and he had an attitude, something didn’t seem normal about him. I will never work with him in my life, even if I become a big star.”

When asked about casting couch in Bollywood, Shama recalled starting work on a big movie and even being at the shoot and getting her makeup done, when she was told at the last minute that her shoot was cancelled. She said she was working with a ‘very big star,’ who did not turn up for the shoot. 

As she was leaving, the director told her that they had cast someone else for her role. The actor said she was ‘shocked and cried all night’. She added such incidents, wherein actors have been removed from projects ‘overnight’, are ‘common’ in the film industry.