“It’s been more than 5 months since I have heard ‘Take, Action, Cut’ on a movie set. Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, all film shootings are on hold.
I am a junior artist by profession and my livelihood depends on film and TV shoots. There are more than 5000 members registered with the Junior artists union in Hyderabad and we make up the background crowd in movies and serials, whether it is a song, an action sequence, or drama.
For me, acting isn’t just work, but my passion. It all started when my father moved to Hyderabad in the year 1989 along with our family, from West Godavari District with a dream to make it big in the film industry. He was an ardent fan of Sr. NTR and a movie buff. In the process, he got himself enrolled in the Junior Artist’s union and has been an part of the Telugu film industry for the past 32 years. I was born and brought up here in the association itself. In fact, all my growing up years involved film and serial shoots. I studied until class 10 and discontinued my education after that as I wanted to focus on the craft completely. Apart from acting, I am also passionate about direction and cinematography. In fact, just before the lockdown, my parents had bought me a DSLR camera worth Rs.1.5 lakhs. I had also made a couple of short films with a minimal budget and received a good response.
Our day starts at 4:30 a.m.. We would all line up at the Junior Artist’s union office at Indira Nagar waiting for the day’s work. There were times we had multiple shoots in a day and there were times we had to wait weeks together for work. In television shoots we earn Rs.500 and in film shoots, we earn Rs.700 to Rs.850 per shoot.
The fact is that the ‘junior artists’, as we are called, in the industry usually confine ourselves to the shadows of sets. Moreover, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has only made our lives worse.
Most of the junior artists have already moved back to their hometowns but I am still hoping for things to turn around because I truly believe in the art and craft of movie-making and it has been my family’s livelihood for more than three decades now!”
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