Bollywood Actors Talk About the Harrowing Experience of Shooting Rape Scenes

Sexual abuse is one of those horrifying experiences that can leave one scarred for life. Turns out that even shooting sexual abuse scenes for a movie can often be traumatising. Bollywood actors Alia Bhatt, Anushka Sharma and Sonam Kapoor recently opened up about shooting rape and molestation scenes, during a conversation with film critic Rajeev Masand, and their experience can send chills down your spine...

"I was in depression when I did the scene of being molested in NH10. But at that time, you want it to be real. Especially in films like NH10 where you do not know where the camera is, you have to make it look realistic," said Anushka Sharma.

"That time I was fine but I was emotionally very low for the next two days… Being punched, kicked in stomach and all that, I was just thinking how humans can be this way. We aren't exposed to so much in life other than reading in newspaper. But to shoot such scenes are extremely traumatising," she added.

Alia Bhatt too shared her experience of shooting for the gang-rape scene in Udta Punjab, "on set you want to be like technical about it. 'Haan you come here, then this happens, then we'll do that and I'll scream and…' So the face is all 'Yeah, I'm with it, I'm okay with it because I'm acting'. But actually what's happening inside is 'I want this scene to get over. I just want this whole thing to get over."

She also revealed how she feared to go on the set. "This has never happened to me but I used to dread that walk every day while getting out of my room and I used to love the walk every day when I'd be coming back to my room. Even though I love my work, it was weird to be in such a situation but what was even more weird was to pretend to be cool on set."

Sonam Kapoor, who agreed with Anushka and Alia, also shared a real life incident of being molested at the age of 14.

"I didn't speak about it for two years or three years. I remember the incident so clearly," she said.

"There was a man who came from behind and just held my breasts like that. And obviously, I didn't have breasts at that time. I started shaking and shivering and I didn't know what was going on and I started crying right there. I didn't speak about it. I just sat there and I finished watching the film because I felt that I'd done something wrong for the longest time," the Neerja star added.

Kudos to these powerful women for sharing their experiences about something that still largely remains a taboo in our society.