Nia Sharma slams TV producers: Many in the industry are struggling with pending dues, they’re often threatened to keep mum

The actor says TV producers are using the lockdown as an excuse to not pay artistes and technicians

After news broke that TV actor Manmeet Grewal had committed suicide as he was out of work and didn’t have money to pay rent, it lifted the veil from the financial struggles that many in showbiz are facing. People face it frequently, but don’t talk about it often, points actor Nia Sharma in an angry yet heartfelt social media post, which also highlights how the unprecedented lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a further beating on those people’s lives.

Actor Nia Sharma says people in the TV industry work for 16 to 22 hours a day and they deserve better

Sounding disturbed, she tells us, “If I start taking names of those struggling because of pending dues, the list will go on. Paying a few lakhs may take time, but imagine an actor I know has been struggling for months to get Rs 70,000 payment. Every time he visits the producer’s office, he’s given another date.”

“We often work for 16 to 22 hours a day, and we deserve better. We aren’t salaried, neither can we do more than one show at a time. So where do we earn from? So much is being talked about other issues, but there’s not a word about those struggling in the TV industry,” she says, adding that it only makes the going get tougher to live in an expensive city like Mumbai.

Initially, Sharma, too faced it. But when she reached a position, she started putting her foot down.

The 29-year-old further about threats that some of the actors and workers receive from production houses. “A lot of times, actors are told, ‘If you’re planning to talk about us in public or take us to CINTAA or to a court, you’ll never get work or paid’. This is the reason why many keep mum or cry silently. It would take any of these people only a few seconds to take a drastic step.”

Sharma further reveals that apart from delaying payments some of these producers even reason that the actors haven’t performed well, leading to losses and for that, they’d either deduct or not pay at all.

“And now, they’re using the lockdown as an excuse. I’m not accusing anyone, but making an appeal to them to pay the actors. They need it now more than ever,” she urges.

Reacting to those who’ve posted negative comments on her post, Sharma quips that “many think that those who work in the TV industry have a lot of money, and that by saying all of this, I’m trying to gather sympathy”.