Himani Shivpuri rues the absence of any provident fund for actors

The stalling of shoots and work coming to a halt in the entertainment industry yet again has taken a toll on the livelihoods of many. Actor Himani Shivpuri points out that the stress is much more for the older actors, as they don’t have any income to fall back on at the time of such a crisis. “It’s very tough. We actors, especially the older ones, earn only when we work. But now, with work not happening, it’s a struggle. We have nothing to fall back on,” she rues, adding, “They call this an industry but it hasn’t been given the status of film industry nor does it function like one. Our income now is zero as there’s no work, but is it our fault?” Calling it a “struggle” for the past one year, the 60-year-old shares, “Income has been very sporadic for people in our industry for the past one year now. It’s really a bad scenario. Yes, we actors are probably not in a situation as bad as many others, but struggle is struggle.”

Shivpuri, who has done films as well as TV shows, stresses on the urgent need to modify the financial structure for actors to enable them to deal with such a crisis. “We don’t have provident funds, we don’t have any care fund or something that we can draw money from during this difficult situation. We don’t have pension. What do we do?” she raises a pertinent question.

The actor, however, isn’t losing hope, and is focused on keeping healthy and surviving this pandemic. “Only when we survive will we be able to go out and earn our livelihood again,” she says, adding, “With the current scenario and the lags in medical infrastructure, we need to take care of our own security, stay at home and take all precautions. We need to build our immunity, and work on our emotional and physical strength.”