Arjun Bijlani, one of the most popular television actors, has been in the industry for years. He is currently appearing in the Colors TV show Laughter Chefs Unlimited Entertainment Season 3 recently spoke on the late payment issue faced by TV actors, waiting for hours on sets for one’s shot, and more.
In a recent interview, Arjun said, “For actors who can leave early, many a time what happens on sets that I personally don’t like is that purposely actors are called on sets and they are made to sit. So I think schedulers should focus on this and producers should tell the schedulers if an actor is not needed, so don’t call them unnecessary and make them sit on the sets.”
Further he added, “He can come one hour before or even one and a half before because one has to rehearse the lines, get makeup done but many a times they feel that since they are giving per day so they will call the actors at 9 in the morning but their shot will come at 4 or 5 in the evening, so I think that’s very criminal in our industry, and it should be completely banner whether the actor is a new comer or whatever he/she may be because they are also a human being, an artist and they shouldn’t be treated like this, you should call one or one and half hour before whatever your call time is, and one should not waste someone’s time unnecessary.”
“In the same way, actors can also do extra work when needed because they know they are also getting respected. Even actors become stubborn, and this is because many a time what happens is that they come in the morning and the shoot happens in the evening, so even when their 12-hour time completes, they leave even if 10 minutes of the shoot are left. So all these things can be avoided very easily,” Arjun said.
Arjun also said, “There should be a fine, and it should be mentioned in the contract that if you delay this thing, you will have to pay this much amount to the actor because that person (actor) is also running their house, and anyway they (Makers) take three months credit, and even in that they delay the payments. But there are some producers, I must say, that if your date is 7, you will get your payment on 6. Balaji Telefilms always gives payment on time, and LSD Studio always gives payment on time. I have worked with Prateek Sharma, and payments were never delayed.”
He also added, “There are some producers who don’t even give Spot Dada’s money, so I think the Union should come together and they should band these producers and make sure they are not allowed to make money because they are even eating others’ money.”
