Senior actress Anita Kanwal, who has been away from the small screen for almost two years now, was in talks for a comeback with an interesting new show, but she has now changed her mind.
Anita says, “To be honest, I am disillusioned with the way the TV industry works now. It is not easy to work for 12 hours every single day. But, as actors, we have done that for many years. Now, however, I feel that it should be more systematic and streamlined given that actors travel long distances to reach sets that are located in far-flung areas such as Naigaon and Umbergaon. Commuting easily takes two to four hours each time; it gets cumbersome. It is not easy to be away from home for so many hours.”
The actress, who has been working in TV and films since the 90s, feels that television content is regressive these days. She says, “Our TV shows are predominantly about saas-bahu politics and even if the focus has shifted slightly, the ‘tormenting your bahu’ type stories continue to flourish. When I used to shoot for Shanti (1994) and Banegi Apni Baat (1993), it was so systematic that I used to shoot for ten weekly shows and three daily shows at a time, and never felt overworked. We used to get a weekly off, too, which is something that actors hardly get when they are shooting now. Episodes were written in advance and there was a good bank of episodes.”
She adds, “Earlier, the ratings system was also different. Now, we have a weekly system of ratings, so if the numbers go down on a TV show, the writers immediately start changing tracks, due to which a bank is never possible. Why can't we have a monthly system of ratings? This will give writers some time to think of tracks ahead. Why can't we move over to finite shows? We should also adopt the multi-camera setup, which was earlier prevalent when we shot for Shanti in those days. Currently, we are using single camera and that's also one of the reasons why things take so long.”
The actress is also vocal about the payment cycle in the TV industry. “There was a time when we used to get a daily cheque after we packed up from a shoot. Now, our payment starts only after three months. So many actors don't even get full payment for their work if the show goes off air. There are so many issues with actors regarding their remuneration. I sincerely feel that the TV industry needs to bring about some much-needed changes,” she opines.
Ask Anita if she is open to working in TV shows in the future, and she says, “I want to do interesting work and television show makers have to come up with exciting ideas. Lately, the web space has opened up interesting options. So, if there are interesting characters, like the one I did in the TV show Sasural Genda Phool, I would love to do television.”
