Not easy being a soap star...
Outside, the crew sets up props. There is much noise and bustle. Inside, all is quiet. The make-up continues, interrupted every other minute by a constant barrage of phone calls and messages.
"Our working hours are really bad," says Sampada. "An average shift for actors in television is 13 hours. I have worked for 22 hours while in advertising, but this can happen in films too. I have also seen people do two shows back-to-back, sleeping in their make-up rooms for two hours in between! But that is a question of choice." She admits it can be extremely tiring at times, adding that it is sometimes difficult to find the time to exercise. "I balance it by working just 20 days a month," she says, "and go on regular holidays to rejuvenate myself."
Sleep is always at a premium. "If there is no bank of episodes with the channel, you have to shoot. You can't take off even if you are ill or someone in your family passes away! That is when some actors cave and begin fainting on sets. In some cases, the actors should be blamed because they need to know when to stop. They should know the amount of work they can take."
Apparently, there isn't even First Aid available on sets. "If an accident takes place by day, the production people get a doctor or medicine. But there is no insurance policy." Sampada mentions a co-star who recently fell and hurt her spinal cord badly. "In such cases, the production house pays the bill if a doctor is called on sets, but I don't think they take care of hospitalisation. In fact, an earlier contract of mine clearly stated that the production house would not be held responsible for any accidents on the sets!"