Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa along with Silence 2 actors Prachi Desai and Manoj Bajpayee recently delved into the gruelling work culture of the Indian television industry. On Bharti and Haarsh’s YouTube channel, Bharti TV, they highlighted the severe toll on the health of actors, directors, and creative producers due to long working hours. Haarsh recounted witnessing directors suffering heart attacks, while Bharti shared instances of female actors needing drips on set to cope with the demands of daily soap shoots. Prachi Desai also reflected on the time when TV actors used to work tirelessly without breaks for sleep or returning home.
Haarsh Limbachiyaa said, “I have seen so many directors, creative people getting heart attacks, and many other health issues because you are not sleeping at all. You are smoking and drinking tea the whole time. Eating the same food that’s available on set. You are suffering from acidity and you can’t control it.”
Bharti Singh added, “I’ve seen girls working with drips on daily soaps, not allowed to go home.” Prachi Singh said, “We wouldn’t sleep enough and we would just stand and say our dialogues with a straight face and it would look like ‘wow, what a performance’ but that was just sleeplessness.”
Haarsh noted that things are very different now. He mentioned that on non-fiction shows, they try to complete the shoot within the allotted shift timings. He added that even when they need to shoot extra, it is typically extended by only a couple of hours.
