Priya Bapat recalls uncomfortable kiss scene, co-star crossed boundaries; Umesh Kamat flew in: ‘How do you justify it?’

The incident left her struggling to maintain her boundaries in an industry she was still learning to navigate.

Actor Priya Bapat has quietly carved out a distinct space for herself by effortlessly moving between Marathi cinema, Hindi films, and streaming. The actor recently looked back at the hurdles of her early days, shedding light on a deeply unsettling experience where professional lines were crossed on set. The incident left her struggling to maintain her boundaries in an industry she was still learning to navigate.

Priya Bapat opens up about a difficult chapter

Priya Bapat reveals co-star kept kissing her during shoot; husband Umesh Kamat stepped in. (Instagram)

Reflecting on one of her earliest film projects, Priya revealed that she felt uneasy about a specific kissing scene from the very beginning. “This was kind of my first, first films," she told Filmfare. "This is all before City of Dreams and everything happened. And there was only one kiss in the film. And I had concerns and doubts about it right from the script reading sessions. And I was continuously asking the director, why do you need it here? It's not about whether I want to kiss or no. But it's just about... How do you justify it? How do you justify? It just doesn't fit here.”

Despite these lingering doubts, Priya ultimately chose to go through with the scene, viewing it as a personal challenge to conquer her own boundaries as a performer. While she maintained that the moment felt uncalled for, the director's strong insistence pushed her to use the opportunity to break her internal inhibitions, deciding to just do it and get it over with for that single sequence.

When things crossed professional boundaries

According to the actor, the behaviour followed her off the set and into her personal space. She revealed that her co-star persistently tried to reach out to her outside of filming hours, making unwanted advances despite her clear lack of interest. She explained that there was no way to completely avoid him since they were staying in the same hotel, albeit in different rooms.

She added that he kept messaging her, inviting her to join him so he could teach her how to swim, asking her out for dinner, and requesting to meet her for breakfast. She refused all his advances, stating that she did not want any of it, noting that nothing like that had ever happened in her life before and emphasizing that it should never happen again.

How her husband Umesh Kamat stepped in

While filming a project on a closed set in Bhopal, Priya found herself navigating an increasingly uncomfortable situation with a male co-star. Unsure of how to handle the behaviour, she leaned on her husband, actor Umesh Kamat, calling him every night from her hotel room to confide in him about her growing distress on set.

Without needing to be asked, Umesh flew from Mumbai to Bhopal. He walked straight onto the production set and stayed by her side for three days. Looking back at the unsettling period, Priya noted that the incident remains the only experience of its kind that she has ever had to face throughout her entire acting career.

Looking ahead

On the work front, Priya Bapat is set to dive back into the psychological genre with one of her most anticipated projects, Dalimb: The Myth.