The TV soap factory is offering serious money to junior artistes. Rs 900 a day to walk hurriedly past a frame, Rs 500 to run in a mela stampede scene. Janaki Viswanathan lands up on a set, gets her hands on a rate card, and a willing insider who exposes the 'class system'
The TV soap factory is offering serious money to junior artistes. Rs 900 a day to walk hurriedly past a frame, Rs 500 to run in a mela stampede scene. Janaki Viswanathan lands up on a set, gets her hands on a rate card, and a willing insider who exposes the 'class system'
Main Jai Santoshi Maa mein bandar bana tha," says a beaming Sitaram Devji Kadam. The 57-year-old "class nine fail" actor has been part of the film and television industry since 1974. He, like a large group people play common folk in the glamour world, every day.u00a0
They are the band of cops, the mob in a riot-ravaged city scene, the good-for-nothing goons in a campus romance, and sometimes the dead body on a funeral pyre. Like one union leader at the Junior Artiste Association says, "Arre wohi jo Munnabhai MBBS mein dead body bana tha."
The bad news: No one knows who you are unless you grab a line of dialogue or the camera stays long enough on your face to make an impression. The good news: if you get work regularly, it's a comfy life. You need no qualification or skill. Just patience to sit it out for hours together, waiting for a shot. And it pays quite wellu00a0 anything between Rs 400 and Rs 900 a day.
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The other side
Union leader Ayub Khan says, "No one really cares about us."u00a0 Male Junior Artistes Association's committee member Asif Sheikh, office secretary Baba Khan, Aamir and Ayub, were all a part of Richard Attenborough's Gandhi that was shot in 1982.
"We played the mob that was lathi-charged, and later refugees during the Partition scenes," says Baba. As it turns out, after Attenborough returned to England, he was so pleased with the response his film received that he sent across "some crores" to the Junior Artiste Association, which they claim they never received. "We were cheated," says Aamir.
At the end of a long career, the retirement cheque is usually a measly Rs 15,000 which as Aamir puts it "usually reaches the family after the artiste passes away. There's too much red tape." Shamien wouldn't recommend the job to a fresher. "I did well for myself," says Shamien, who had approached the women's association to be an office bearer but was offered the job of an actress.
The happily single 50-something works for about 10 days a month, making about Rs 10,000. "My sister works for an insurance company. Both of us will retire in a couple of years. The difference, of course, is that she will get gratuity to the tune of Rs 10 lakh. I'll have to settle for Rs 40,000."
But it's the youngsters who enjoy living it up. Raahat Shaikh Abdul, 29, whose family is in the acting business, was in films Julie, Om Shanti Om and several ads. "I make Rs 20,000 a month. We come in late and leave as soon as we're done with our shots. There are no rules, you can take holidays any time you want. It's a good deal if you're willing to struggle," she says.
As Sitaram puts it: "It's a simple and sweet job. I got married, educated my children, married my son off, all by being a junior artiste. Itna mushkil nahin hai. Pahaad khodne ka kaam toh hai nahin."
Association fact file
--The Male Junior Artistes' Association is located in Jogeshwari East, and has been around for 78 years. Its current president is Fareed Sura.u00a0
--It's almost impossible to become a new member of the Male Junior Artistes' Association.u00a0
-- u00a0The office secretary, Baba Khan, informs us that when an existing member retires, either his son can become a member, or someone whom he recommends. The association has over 1,000 members so far.
-- It costs at least Rs 10,000 to become a member of the Male Junior Artistes' Association.
-- There isn't any difference between a junior artiste for television and film, it all depends on the producers and casting directors who send across lists of requirement.u00a0
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