“When I came to Mumbai, my landlord – a big politician, gave me a direct offer, said I won’t have to pay rent, if I met him 2-3 times a month,” reveals Rayya Labib

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of Marathi actress Tejaswini Pandit’s disclosure about a humiliating experience she had while staying at a rental apartment in Pune years ago, when she was struggling to find a foothold in the industry, Mumbai-based actress Rayya Labib also narrated a similar story.

Speaking to this reporter, she said, “When I first came to Mumbai, my landlord – a big and well-known politician from Maharashtra gave me a direct offer. He said I won’t have to pay rent, if I met him privately 2-3 times a month,” Rayya alleged, without naming the politician

Elaborating further, she said,”In 2013, the year I moved to Mumbai, I was less than 18 and was staying in the Andheri West area of Four Bungalows and my landlord was a well-known politician from Maharashtra. I was going through tough times and sometimes the rent payment was late. This is when the man said he wouldn’t take any rent if I slept with him. I told him on his face to get lost and also vacated the premises the following month after giving him the mandatory month’s notice. He deducted the rent from my deposit amount and I moved to a cheaper place. Aspiring female actors in Mumbai go through hell during their initial years and there is no support system for them in Mumbai,” Rayya said.

Rayya Labib hails from Nalbari, Assam where she was born on 11th February 1996. After finishing her schooling, she went to Guhahati for higher education and also came to Mumbai for modeling and acting assignments now and then.

She completed her schooling and college in Assam with her schooling in Nalbari where she was very active in cultural activities and also did modeling and ramp shows in nearby towns.

After completing her education, she moved to Mumbai permanently where she is now based, but often travels to Assam to meet her family.

In Mumbai, she started with print shoots and smaller modeling assignments doing various campaigns and even episodic roles in serials like CID, Crime Patrol and the like.

She acted in Sanjay Khandelwal’s film venture “Lakme” and worked with director Maneesh F Singh in the festival film “Green Terror”, which was partly shot in Pakistan. She was also seen in the film “It’s Over” by director Dhiraj Kumar and one more project.

Rayya is 26 years of age and is currently single. Her hobbies include listening to music, watching movies and sports.