Exclusive - Former actress Sofia Hayat raises questions on casting young girls in Hindi television shows opposite older men

Former Bigg Boss contestant and actress Sofia Hayat is saddened and deeply affected after hearing the news of 20-year-old actress Tunisha Sharma's suicide. The actress blames the trend of makers casting young girls opposite older men in Television shows. While talking to ETimes TV, Sofia stated that she feels the makers are the real culprits who cast young actresses to romance older men in TV projects.
She says, "It is sad when you read about young actors killing themselves just because of failed relationships. I seriously feel makers are the culprit in these cases. They hire young actresses and cast them opposite men who are much older and make them romance in their projects. These kids who have just started acting and are not experienced artists, are easily manipulated on set while shooting, and get sexually involved with older men who convince them that sexual intimacy is the norm in the industry. I know, I also had producers do the same to me, but I always swerved them in another direction.
She continues, "Such young actors need proper training, and when they have that they can step into their roles with confidence like a doctor does. But instead, they are not given the correct education. I feel it's time to adopt the culture to hire properly learned artists and also pay them a good amount. Why are the makers of the show silent, and why has no proper statement been released on the case by them? Money is the supremacy, and with that, controversial suicide cases are closed before full investigation, as has happened in past. Can actors rise up enough to stop this from happening in the future? People in senior positions can easily pay off police etc."
Sofia who also appeared in reality shows like Welcome – Baazi Mehmaan Nawazi Ki, Bigg Boss 7, and Comedy Nights Bachao. Later she also hosted Superdude. Sofia said she is shocked to see how in India, the entertainment industry is considered sacred and producers are 'treated as God.'
"Stop treating the directors and producers like gods, they manipulate so much. Some directors and producers and actors use their position to manipulate actors, and most actors are aware of this and go along with it, because fame is after all. There were many situations in Bollywood where I could have given up on my life because the people on set put me in a position to either force me to compromise my morality or treated me so badly I cried and cried. On one film promotion at a mall, I turned up and paid for my own makeup artist and stylist, because the producers told me one hour before to get to the mall, when I got there, they told me to go back and they did not need me anymore because I had told the other actress on the movie that I had paid for my own makeup artist, and then this actress told me, oh that's wrong they should pay. So they were annoyed at me for telling her so they decided to exclude me from the promotion and movie posters. I screamed and cried in the middle of the mall telling them, how dare you treat me like this. The same producers and directors team kept asking us to go to dinners and clubs with people who funded the movie, and we didn't want to. The industry needs to shape up, or at least, the actors need to take back their power. The industry is narcissistic, and I can see how many actors choose suicide over God's precious life," she concluded.