Jayati Bhatia, the popular Indian actress widely recognized for Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Sasural Simar Ka, Sinndoor Tere Naam Ka, and others, made unfiltered revelations about the TV industry, extra working hours, and more in a recent interview with Hauterrfly.
Speaking about the conditions on TV sets in the early days of her career, Jayati credited her seniors for teaching her a lot. She emphasized that her seniors told her she could ask the production team to let her leave when her call time ended.
Discussing working hours, the actress clarified that a standard “12-hour shift” practically translated into a harrowing 15-hour workday. She noted that daily travel to distant sets often took three hours, making those exhausting commutes some of the worst moments of her career.
Revealing the truth about TV sets, Jayati exposed the lack of basic sanitation back then. The lack of toilets on set made shooting extremely challenging, particularly for female actors during their menstrual cycles.
She emphasized that at that time, every 2 to 2.5 hours of shooting, vanity vans used to go to the office in Film City, and people would go to the washroom there. She also acknowledged that things have changed now that actresses have started speaking about it in recent years.
At the absolute peak of her career, Jayati survived on almost no sleep for half a decade. Between 2003 and 2008, she filmed three massive prime-time shows simultaneously: Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, and Hum Do Hain Na.
The actress also discussed on safet and comfort, saying the frequent rotation of internal makeup crews often compromised her sense of safety. “It becomes highly uncomfortable because makeup artists operate in such proximity to your face,” she explained. “You don’t feel entirely safe or comfortable with constantly changing personnel, a factor production houses rarely understand or value.”
Jayati concluded by stating that she now aggressively demands the financial compensation she deserves. Emphasizing that time is money, she noted that because she arrives fully prepared and fluent with her dialogue lines, she saves producers critical time—an efficiency she firmly believes studios must respect and financially honor.
