When I was asked to bribe someone to get a role

A page from the personal diary of Akshay Sethi There are so many incidents that keep happening in our day-to-day life. But I particularly want to share this one with everybody as it will always stay in my memory. One fine day almost three months back I got a call from one of my friends who work with an established TV production house. He said he wanted me to meet a person from a known TV channel who really appreciated my work and wanted to cast me in their upcoming show. When I met that person he said he liked my work and it was on his recommendation that I got a role in Sasural Genda Phool. It sounded very fishy and I immediately thought something was wrong and I became alert. Nobody gets work on mere recommendations in this industry. I started avoiding these people when once again this same friend called me up and inquired if I had thought about the new project. I told him I was not interested as I was happy doing Sasural…. He started convincing me and told me that I could get the role easily. All I needed to do was to gift that person. I refused outright saying I didn’t want to bag a role by gifting people. I realised that they were fooling me to take some money out from me. I didn’t share this incident with anyone because I felt I could only solve this problem by not making ruckus about it. This experience has changed me completely. I have started feeling that nobody in this world can be trusted except your parents. People can go to any extent just to get money. I shudder to think that if this could happen to me imagine what could be happening to all those youngsters who travel from small towns and cities to be a part of this glamour industry. Just a week back this same friend called me up and apologised for his behaviour. He has realised that he shouldn’t have done this. This incident really upset me because this was not done by stranger but a friend. I just hope a lot many people read this page from my diary and I can at least create awareness about this issue.