Television stars scramble for new jobs

As bahus and betas of television, their sway over the audience was the envy of politicos and the demi Gods of silver screen. Today, they are finding it hard to get a decent serial to keep them in circulation. Most TV stars, who took to banking heavily on reality shows for survival, are either getting married or looking at alternate career options to set up their own business.

“It’s true that most of us don’t have the kind of work that we used to have even two years back. Some of us don’t have any work at all. The TV industry, which is doing away with the star system, has debutant actors doing one serial at a time,” admits actress Sweta Keswani.

“Even reality shows that once needed TV stars are looking at a different profile of contestants; it affected our work drastically.”

Once a star vamp on the small screen, actress Urvashi Dholakia observes, “People knew us by our first name.  These days, actors are simply known by the character’s name that they portray, and not by their real names. While it’s true that the TV industry is doing away with stars, I also believe that the trend will not last long.”

Rakshanda Khan, once referred to as the ‘Queen Bee of small screen’, states that the scramble to reduce production costs has driven established stars out of business.

“Debutants mean less money than the established stars, but they don’t create recall value for soaps as they are not bankable actors. Life will come a full circle and very soon, we (established TV stars) will be back in business again,” says Rakshanada.

Actress Sweta Kawatra, once a sought-after bahu in tellyland, feels the industry is going through a correction.

“When some actors started charging exorbitantly, it forced some producers to cut down on the budgets. Having said that, I don’t like this trend of doing away with established stars altogether as it stops creating value for the industry. Survival of TV stars is as much a need for the TV industry as it is for us,” elaborates Kawatra. 

But TV star Rohit Roy is  scathing, “As a producer myself, I am aware of the costs, but this is not the way to go about it. The (TV) industry has gone downhill over the years. It will have to change for everybody’s good, including the television industry,” he predicts.