‘If you don’t get your money, raise your voice’
Pandemic or no pandemic, to have to beg for your hard-earned money is sad,” says actor Sanaya Irani about the non-payment of dues in the TV industry.
Actor Manmeet Grewal’s suicide due to financial crisis left her heartbroken, as did the news about many others in the industry who’re complaining about unpaid dues.
“I’ve not done TV for six years but I do remember during my time, too, producers used to make excuses. It’s always blamed on the channel. One person passes the buck to the other. I never had to wait for long because the producers I worked with were nice and I was very professional about these things,” she says.
Some actors wait for four to eight months or more for their dues. The 36-year-old actor asks, “Why are you working for somebody for this long? First, producers opt for newcomers who are willing to work for less money. And in the fear of losing work, actors are okay getting paid after eight months.”
The only way to change this, according to Irani, is to raise your voice at the right time. “If you don’t get your money in three months, raise your voice in the fourth month,” she says.
The actor, who did a few projects before the lockdown, is also waiting for her payments. She says, “I’m willing to wait. I understand that it’s a hard time for everybody. Luckily, I’m not in a hand-to-mouth situation. In such tough times, none of that name and fame matters.”