Bollywood actor Renuka Shahane, popularly known for her roles in Hum Aapke Hain Koun! and the TV show Circus, spoke about being mistreated in the industry. In a chat with Zoom, Renuka recalled how a married producer proposed living together in exchange for a campaign, doing so in front of her mother, and revealed the aftermath of such situations in the industry.

Renuka Shahane recalls producer asking her to live with her

Renuka recalled, “Ek producer aaye the bahut saal pehle aur vo mere ghar pe aaye the mujhse milne aur unhone mujhe proposition hi kar diya mujhe ki main married hoon lekin ap meri brand ambassador banegi, kuch saari ke producer the aur campaign ho gaya aur main apko itna stipend dunga per month, and then we live together kind of thing (A producer came to meet me many years ago. He visited my home and made me a proposition, saying that although I’m married, he wanted me to be the brand ambassador for his saree campaign, and that he’d pay me a monthly stipend and that we would live together). My mom and I were aghast. We kept looking at each other.”

Renuka revealed that after she refused, the producer offered the campaign to someone else, and she further shared the typical aftermath of such situations. She said, “Ya toh apko nikala jaata hain, ya toh fir ikatha hokar aapko fir aur bhi trouble karte hain, apko paise nahi milte agar ap nikal jao. It’s a whole club that comes together and tries to victimise the victim even more (Either you get thrown out, or they gang up to trouble you even more. You don’t get paid if you leave. It’s a whole group that comes together to further victimise the victim).” She added that while these things did not happen to her, there is always a risk of such behaviour in the industry.

About Renuka Shahane

Renuka first became a household name with her performance in the show Circus and as a co-host of the popular Doordarshan programme Surabhi. She gained further acclaim for her role in the blockbuster film Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! where she portrayed the loving and responsible elder sister, Pooja.

Over the years, she has worked in several Hindi and Marathi films. As a filmmaker, she earned praise for directing Tribhanga (2021), a family drama starring Kajol, Tanvi Azmi, and Mithila Palkar. She was most recently seen in the web series Dupahiya, which also featured Gajraj Rao, Sparsh Shrivastava, Shivani Raghuvanshi, and Bhuvan Arora in lead roles. The series received appreciation from both audiences and critics and is available to watch on Prime Video.