Peeping in to TV industry

I went to TELLY AWARDS on 20th November and Ita-Indian television academy awards on 30th November. I want to share some observation with you so you also get to know the real face of the reel people. Many people know about the industry through newspapers. I was amongst them only before a year. I got married and shifted to Mumbai. My husband is working as a supervising producer in a reputed production house. In a year I met so many artists on shooting or in the parties. They are so different. A layman cannot imagine the life of his favorite artiste.

Their lives are not so glamorous as we think. They work min 18hours and max 22hours a day. Such a laborious job! I met more then 200 industry people personally and till today I do not find a single one who do not drink or smoke. That is their need. Most of the couples are not loyal to each other. They know about their partner’s affair but there is nothing much to do about that. Another thing you might not know. Most of the artistes are not well educated. They are hardly graduates. I met a senior artiste from a popular show. He told me that he was not well last week. He went through check up which shows lacking of hemoglobin in his body. He said, “I ask the doctor what is it? I heard once but I don’t know what hemoglobin is?” I couldn’t able to understand what kind of response I should give to this learned man!

Even cameramen, technicians and set designers come to industry directly in very small age. They learn their work here only. If we talk about writers, most of them learn the art from their seniors not from any reputed institute. Today many students are facing the problem in recruitment as they think they should learn first so they took admission in a reputed colleges but industry does not value degrees, it values only experience.

People might know Sara Khan, a leading actress of the serial Bidaai. She does not know what is so special about the 15th august? I was there when one of the reporters asked her this question. When she got to know the answer she did not feel sorry. In industry people feel that we should know about the industry well else they do not care.

Talking about the award functions, it looks as a glamorous part of their life but insight it is nothing but simply a business. A company who gives the award wants to maintain a good relation with the production houses and channels as well. People who are seating at the function know in advance who will win which award. It is a prior condition. They confirm first that if they will get the award then only they will come. Naturally they are not interested to come for clapping only. I really can’t understand that they all know the politics behind the awards well still they feel proud on the awards they get and the same way they get annoyed and feel offended when they loose. They know the reality of the awards. That is why almost all the artistes have crave for the national award. Hina Khan, the lead actress of a famous show on star plus says, “I have won five awards this year but still I hope for the national award.”

The funny part of the award function is all the big artistes (mostly film artistes) will be awarded in five minutes of their arrival and after that they will not stay there for five minutes too. Still you can see Rani Mukherjee, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor in all over the telecast as they took the shots in that five minutes and insert it in all over the telecast. After all the prestige of the award depends upon how many stars have come for that. No matter how much time they spend there. Through editing they can show that they were there for the whole show!

Thanks to media, many people do not believe in reality shows. Recently, Rakhi Sawant is doing a reality show on NDTV imagine called Pati, Patni aur Woh! She came for her performance in Telly Awards. How can she come there if she is doing a reality show? She should be in the house/set only with her husband and the kid she got. Well, She does not allow her work to suffer for any show! She can shoot there and here simultaneously. Who cares?

I feel bad for the child artistes. Many of the people feel great about the child artistes as they earn fame and money in such a small age. Some feel lucky that in this age they got the chance to work with big stars. But I feel pity for them. I feel that in that age this kind of exposure is hazardous for the children. The life of the industry is not easy to digest. I saw that they lost their innocence.

If you meet Avika Gaur (balika vadhu fame) you will feel like meeting some great star. She is so professional. In this young age child doesn’t know what the professionalism is! She is no more a teenage girl. I saw that child artistes have been pressurized to maintain contacts with the producers by their parents. They go to big producers and shake their hands with them and introduce their selves. All is so weird. I couldn’t able to see nine years old is struggling to make contacts in the industry. It is terrible. I beg all the parents who want their child to be on screen please don’t ruined your kid’s childhood.

There is so much to tell about our great industry! May be you found this so negative but it is the truth. Well, that does not mean that industry does not have anything positive to talk about! That I will do some other time!