Ravi Kishan Opens Up On Facing Casting Couch As A Teenager, Says ‘People Attempt To Take Advantage Of You’

Actor-politician Ravi Kishan has been basking in the success of his movie Laapataa Ladies, where he played a supporting role as a police officer. The star has been a part of 450 Bhojpuri films and is also a well-established actor in Bollywood. Not only that, Kishan has also worked in several other industries, including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, and Marathi.

Despite being a well-known star now, he had his own share of ups and downs. He recently shared his terrifying experience of the casting couch early in his career. While speaking in an interview, the Mission Raniganj actor revealed that he left his village in Bihar when he was a teen and moved to Mumbai. He was desperate for work as he had seen immense poverty as a youth.

In an interview with Shubhankar Mishra on YouTube, Ravi Kishan disclosed that during this phase of desperation, people tried to take advantage of him; however, he showed resistance and did not yield to their demands.

When asked if there is any truth to men being sexually exploited in the Mumbai film industry, he said, “When you’re young and good-looking, when you’re fit but have no money, some people attempt to take advantage of you. This happens in several fields, not just in the films. They try their hand, and hope it works out.”

Further he continued saying, “I have faced many such attacks in my youth. I was lean, I had long hair, I wore an earring. I would like to tell everyone out there that there are no shortcuts to success. I know of many people who’ve tried to take such shortcuts, and have regretted it immensely. They’ve slipped into addictions, or they’ve taken their lives.”

Later the actor added that he remained patient and didn’t take the easy path to success and added that nobody can become a star through a shortcut method. He said, “Wait for your time to come; have patience. I would tell myself that one day the sun will rise for me. All my friends in the ’90s, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, they became superstars. But I waited for my time.”

In 2024, Ravi Kishan was seen in Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies, which got selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars; however, it failed to make it to the longlist in the Best International Feature category. He will soon return in the second season of his popular Netflix legal-comedy series, Maamla Legal Hai.