Former child artiste Ravi Valecha recalls facing abuse in film industry at 8: 'There was nobody I could talk to'

Actor Ravi Valecha discusses his traumatic experiences of sexual exploitation as a child artist in the film industry.

Actor Ravi Valecha, who became a known face on the big screen as a child artist in the 1970s and 1980s, has opened up about a deeply troubling chapter of his life. Despite achieving a remarkable feat of working in around 300 films across multiple languages, Valecha has revealed that his journey in the film industry was also marked by incidents of sexual exploitation.

Former child artiste recalls facing abuse

Ravi Valecha starred in 300 films.

Valecha often played younger versions of Amitabh Bachchan's characters in many films and featured in several popular films, including Coolie, Amar Akbar Anthony, Mr Natwarlal, Fakira, Tumhare Bina, Khuddar, Nastik, Parichay, Yaadon Ki Baarat, Karz, Seeta Aur Geeta and Desh Premee, among others. While speaking to The Indian Express, Ravi revealed that he was around eight years old when the abuse began and that he faced such incidents three times.

The first incident took place at a dubbing studio, where an older man from the industry asked him to sit on his lap. Ravi also recalled that the most disturbing instance involved a young secretary who was hired to accompany him to shoots every day. He shared that secretary would inappropriately touch him in taxis and cars routinely.

'You can't tell anybody'

Valecha admitted that he did not tell anyone about what had happened because he felt, “There was nobody I could talk to,” and feared that his parents would not believe him. The actor said he carried the pain with him for years and that the experience eventually manifested as anger that spilled into his personal life. Valecha later moved away from acting and went on to build a successful hospitality business.

Ravi Valecha starred in 300 films.

How therapy helped him

Valecha eventually sought therapy, which helped him confront the trauma he had buried for years. Recalling the impact of the process, he said, “I did not know how deeply embedded that was in my mind, which came out in the therapy. I myself had buried everything. Six months of therapy changed everything. Today I’m very light. I don’t mind speaking to anybody about it."