There are new actors who haven’t been paid for their year old work. It is heartbreaking: Nia Sharma

The actor, who appealed to producers to pay actors during this crisis, talks about the payment system in the TV industry, shares that now the situation is taking a turn for worse and creating panic.

After TV actor, Manmeet Grewal of Aadat Se Majboor fame, committed suicide at his Mumbai residence on May 15 due to financial stress and lack of work, Nia Sharma spoke up about the issues actors face regarding getting payments on time from producers. In an Instagram post, she wrote, “Not that I knew him, but the news about his suicide owing to his financial crisis is disturbing!... I know many of my friends(Actors) that haven’t been paid since last year or more with rents and EMIs mounting, work this year clearly being halted indefinitely, everyone’s losing patience somewhere.” She adds that producers have bigger risks and problems but requested them to clear payments of actors who are struggling.

Nia states there are so many companies and production houses that have shut and producers have a lot at stake. (Photo: Instagram/Niasharma90)

Talking about her views, the Jamai Raja actor says, “It is quite a bad situation out there. Forget the 90 day rule for payment, I know of new actors who haven’t been paid for their year old work. It is heartbreaking.

She admits she has made peace with the scenario that she has not been shooting for 2 months and it feels “trivial and selfish” in the light of the conditions of so many people out there, to talk about when the shoots will resume. “There are so many poorly faring serials that have been shut overnight, without closure. That is fair as you can’t be waiting for months for things to go back to normal and then revive a show that wasn’t working. There are so many companies and production houses that have shut and producers have a lot at stake. We are no where close to shooting but when we do, there will be a huge struggle to get good ratings,” she says.