Talented actor Gagan Anand who has had a good run on the web platform with series Boss Baap Of Special Services, Fixerr, Baarish etc is looking at the new lockdown with positivity, but cannot skip thinking about the fact that survival for an actor in Mumbai is becoming tougher by the day. Gagan talks about the hard plight that actors face and the lockdown miseries only adding more to their problems.
Says Gagan, “Another lockdown with some new rules imposed for ‘good’, has already started. I only hope that this new lockdown isn’t coupled with any wave of further bad news. I haven’t still recovered from the several suicides witnessed in the previous lockdown. I hope people (especially fraternity from the media and entertainment industry) have the strength – I hope they are stronger than last time.”
Talking about the lockdown and the survival of actors in the industry, Gagan states, “It is hard to survive here in Mumbai even if you are working on a regular basis. The audience feels great to see their favourite actors on screen and cheer for them. But they don’t know the hardships and struggle behind those happy faces. Even if these artists and actors are looking glamorous and doing several films/ web/ TV shows, they are fighting their internal turmoil every day. It isn’t easy to maintain an external calm when internally most of them are in major stress.”
Adding on as he talks about the plight of the acting fraternity, Gagan explains, “I know a lot of actors who have done so much of good work and are often frustrated. Most of it is because of financial problems. Most of these artists (including me) haven’t been paid even after the release of shows / assignments. The producers keep pushing and ask for more days for the payment. And if they have paid some amount, they don’t pay the TDS which has been deducted from the payment as per legal tax norms. And some producers are a step further – they just disappear after the work is done.”
“The actors can’t even take their names. And their reasoning is fear. The fear of being ousted by the industry. So to stay in the industry, they take all of it in their stride; hoping for the eventual impossibility – that their dues will be paid. Yes, this is the truth behind our glamorous industry. Thanks to some friends who gave me regular work and paid me timely, I survived the last lockdown. I am just hoping for those who came back to Mumbai after a year – that they survive another lockdown. I hope that this lockdown doesn’t have another wave of survival issues and suicides.”
May we all overcome this lockdown too!!
