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In the past three months of the nationwide lockdown, the television industry in India incurred major losses. With no shoots taking place, work had come to a crashing standstill. As a result, several actors are facing financial problems due to the non-payment of dues by producers. Amid this, television actor Akhlaque Khan, on his Facebook account, shared an incident that took place nearly 15 years ago. The Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha Season 2 actor, during an interview with an entertainment portal, told that he worked with Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms on a show called Karmic Connection, which never saw the daylight. He recalled that despite shooting for three days, he didn't receive his payment.
"With my post I am not trying to defame anyone. I just shared an incident that happened with me and kept happening with the actors. So, around 15 years back, I used to be a per-day artist and in Balaji I have done many shows where I played manager, doctor and what not. But at that time for surviving, the money used to be enough. And one day when they said that we are taking you for a supernatural show called Karmic Connection starring Shabir Ahluwalia and you will play his younger brother which will be a kind of parallel lead, I got extremely excited. I felt after so much struggle I finally have something in my hand now. I remember we shot for 3 days one day at Klick Nixon (Andheri) then Filmcity (Goregaon) but unfortunately that show didn't go on-air due to which I didn't get my payment also," Akhlaque told.
Akhlaque continued that the amount wasn't huge but he had to struggle to get his hard-earned money. "The amount was not huge, probably 10-12k but for that also I had to struggle so much. I went to their office account department so many times but they kept giving me new dates and then I got fed up and left the money. That time I was really sad because the show got scrapped and then I didn't receive my money also," he said.
Adding that his motive wasn't to hurt anyone but to bring to fore the plight of actors. "My motive to post this now is just to share how actors have to struggle for their own money. A lot of people on my post have shared their experiences now. In this pandemic, actors are struggling and I saw many coming out in the open to discuss it. Actors just don't deal with this but also with the 90 days payment rule. If the show doesn't work well and goes off air producers ask them to cut down the percentage and take a settlement amount. A lot of people are calling me to say that Balaji is good at all this and they clear dues on time. But after that show I never got a chance to work with them so how would I know?" he added.
(Source: Spotboye)
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