‘Stand up and fight for your rights’, urges Rio Kapadia to fellow actors

Rio Kapadia is known for his majestic fatherly roles on television. And the actor has always done a swell job getting into the skin of the characters. We got to know that the senior actor was to play a prominent role in Sony Entertainment Television’s upcoming show Hongey Judaa Na Hum, produced by Shri Adhikari Brothers. We hear that the actor had even started to shoot, when he was informed that he is no longer needed on the show. And our readers will remember that we had recently put up a story of Ayub Khan being part of the show. But not all know that Rio Kapadia was to play the role initially…

We got in touch with Rio Kapadia to get to know what exactly went wrong… Without mincing words, Rio got into a frank conversation with us..

We heard that you were to play the father of the female protagonist in Sony’s Hongey Judaa Na Hum.

Yes, you heard it right. I was to play the role and all was finalized after which I was notified that I was no longer part of it.

We now hear that Ayub Khan is playing the role.

I really do not know who is playing the role, but all I can say is that I gave four months to the show only to be treated like this.

Can you tell us what exactly happened?

Sometime in April 2012, I was offered this role by the channel. After many look tests, they did a mock shoot too to see how the character is shaping up. They approved of me in the role, but did not like my clothes. And the look test happened again. After this, the pilot was made and we started shooting for the show in June. So between this period from April to June, I was getting many interesting offers which I had to refuse as I was to give 20 days for Hongey Judaa…I signed the contract for the show on June 29 2012. In July, they shot for one day after which there was a waiting period as one of the actors was not available. We were to shoot from 24-27 August, but I got a call from the production house on the morning of 22 August, that my services were not needed anymore in the show. The reason given was that the Programming Head of Sony has changed and he had other ideas. This came as a shocker to me and I did not have a say in the decision.

The whole attitude of taking in an actor and throwing out an actor as and when they want is wrong. You see, there is something called a ‘Set of people’ who do ‘Chamchagiri’ and thrive on God fathers and God mothers in the industry. I belong to no such group; I have grown up in a different way and have certain values in life. This is a very bad situation for any actor to be in, and many of them have faced this in the industry.

So what is the action that you have taken?

I have taken this matter to the association; I have sent them a letter asking them to get me an answer from the channel. See if I had a problem, the previous Programming Head would not have selected me for the role. It is just that the person coming in has brought his own man inside. Instead of concentrating on stories, characters, scripts and mainly the audience, the channel is indulging in such games and it only shows the upsetting state of today’s television. There is no stability for an actor. An actor cannot claim that he/she is part of a show till the show has a run of nearly six months to one year.

So where do you think the problem lies?

When you see the shows made abroad, they prepare the entire script of a particular serial and submit it. Only when the whole story gets approved, the show is aired. But here, one particular concept goes to the channel, and nobody knows what is going to be written by the writer in the episodes to come. Our audience needs their daily dose of drama and to provide that, the scripts get modified day in and day out. This is the reason why not many of our new shows exists for a time span of more than two months. Gone are the days when shows used to run for a year to two years to a maximum of five to ten years.

So what is your plea to your fellow actors?

I am fighting a very huge corporation and all channels indirectly. As one person, I do not stand much of a chance to fight it all out, but I believe that I will stand up for my rights. I need an answer for the time and energy I lost being part of the show for four months. It is inhuman of them to throw me out in two minutes. As I have told you earlier, I have written and explained the whole thing to CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes Association) and they will take up the matter with Sony and will probably distribute my letter to various other channels. What I need is the support of actors and actresses from the industry who have faced the same type of problem. All have this fear that they would not get a job if they raise their voice. But you cannot sit like this all your life and just see things getting worse. We need to stand up and fight. Above all, I am not fighting only for myself, I am fighting for all. My plea to all fellow actors is that, please do not take anything lying down, stand up and fight for your rights. If there is unity within us, we can achieve a lot. It is high time that we drop the fear in us and raise our voice. The more the voices, our thought process will be heard more clearly.

Finally, what do you think will be a fair call now for actors who have gone through this?

There should be heavy compensations from channels when they take such actions, otherwise all the efforts and energies are wasted, and the actor is left with no money from the concerned show, and also he loses out on opportunities during this phase.