I lost several projects as makers’ close ones wanted to do the film: Evelyn Sharma

Nepotism was first made officially known to audiences and was added to Indian household’s vocabulary, when Kangana Ranaut called Karan Johar- the flag bearer of ‘Nepotism’ on his own show ‘Koffee with Karan’. Since then it became the talk of the town and people now knew what happens behind the lens. But what ignited this issue and made people come forward to fight off this evil instead of just sitting, sipping their coffee and talking about it, was Sushant Singh Rajput’s alleged suicide.

‘Kai Po Che!’ actor’s sudden death at a very young age made people become vocal about this biases and favoritism prevalent in Bollywood. Now, it is Evelyn Sharma who came forward to share her bitter experiences and how Bollywood functions, favouring people who have connections.

Evelyn who flew down to the city of dreams, Mumbai from Germany to become a star, talked about how nepotism took away many projects from her hands, how she got stereotyped in Bollywood, and what challenges she faced to get work in the industry. The actress shared that many times she was replaced in films overnight because someone having connections with makers wanted to be a part of the project.

In a recent interview, Evelyn recalled the tough times she faced during her career, “All of it made me stronger actually. There have been times when the roles offered to me had no scope to perform. Then I’d get replaced overnight because someone’s friend or girlfriend wanted to do the film.” She further went on to add, “It was a quite shocking and horrible experience for me. Initially, I’d think those ‘why don’t you come over for drinks’ offers were for good only to find out later that it wasn’t. What’s nepotism? The power and money game that happens in Bollywood is a different thing altogether. Thankfully I managed to stay away and found my small space.”

Evelyn even shared how the stereotypical mindset of makers also diminished her possibilities of getting assignments as they thought this foreign national won’t be able to speak Hindi.

“After 10 years in Bollywood and having done 15 films, people still feel I won’t be able to deliver my dialogues in Hindi. I mean that’s disappointing. I know Elli (Avram), Elnaaz (Nourouzi) also go through the similar grind,” she said.

Evelyn Sharma is a German model and actress who made her film career in 2006 with her debut American movie ‘Turn left’. She made an entry in Bollywood from film ‘From Sydney with Love’ in 2012 playing Lubaina Snyder. Evelyn shot to success with Ayan Mukerji’s ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, opposite Ranbir Kapoor.