Smiles we know, tears we don't

Hyderabad: We see many character artistes, junior artistes, technical crew work and enjoy their show on the screens and behind the screen. But only a few of them know about the challenges that they face in real life to reach this stage. Let's see some of the life stories.

Ethika Naveen is popularly known as Jabardasth Gaddam Naveen for his performance as a comedian in a television show 'Jabardasth'. Speaking about his entry into the film industry, Gaddam Naveen said, "I came into movies in 1998 as a junior artiste and faced many troubles in the initial stages. It was very tough to get a chance as a junior artiste for amounts Rs 50 to Rs 100 per day but my passion towards cinema always motivated me. I almost attended all the auditions from 2004 to 2009. After getting acquaintances with Directors like Surender Reddy and VV Vinayak, I used to get small roles in films. As a junior artiste, I acted in films like Thammudu, Aadi, Idiot and others.

Speaking about his chance in Jabardasth, he said, "Money which I earned as a junior artiste was not sufficient to make a livelihood. Then I started doing many jobs. I used to spend the money which I earned through the jobs to attend auditions for the opportunities in movies.

In this process of approaching auditions, in 2016, with the help of Abhinaya Krishna (Adhire abhi) and Chalaki Chanti, I got an opportunity in Jabardasth which was a big break for me and people started recognizing me for my acting and comedy. After 'Jabardast', I made it big with acting in movies like 'Kick 2', 'Paatas', 'Supreme', 'Druva' and 'Syra'.

Speaking on the Corona crisis, Naveen said, "Situations after Covid pushed most of the artistes into a disorder. Many from the film industry faced financial troubles, especially artistes and technicians who are based on daily wages. Though many heroes came forward and helped them, some people still faced troubles. In my case, there was no trouble for me financially during the Covid time but many projects were missed due to the lockdown. It will be very gloomy for an artiste to keep his makeup kit away for six months."

Dhanunjay, who was an assistant director by profession says, "I came into the film industry in 2015 and started working as an apprentice. We will not be paid anything for that. I used to go to shoots in the morning and for painting works in the night. But now, I am working as an assistant director for films and ad films. I worked under directors Abhiram M, Mohan Vatsa, Srinivas N and others."

Speaking about the problems faced during the Covid times, Dhanunjay said, "We will be getting very low salaries and that too at the time of film production only. If the shoot is finished, we have to search for another opportunity. So, there will be no chance of savings. In normal days, we can manage financially but in a pandemic, survival becomes a huge task for us. There was no work in the city; no chance to go to our native place. People like me in the industry experienced a huge trouble at the time of the pandemic."

Simhachalam, who works as an artiste says, "I entered Hyderabad 20 years back but had no knowledge on how to enter into films. I started doing some work here and there. Later after getting some contacts in the film industry, I started my search here. I worked for many films as an artiste alongside villains."

Speaking about his management of the family during corona time, he said, "Our income will be Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 per day. If we have shoots, we will get money or else there will be no income. We will hardly get 15 days of shoot in a month. Pandemic taught me many lessons regarding how important savings are. I struggled a lot at the time of crisis. I stay in LB Nagar as livelihood in film related areas is very expensive. This kept me away from the beneficiaries given to the movie artistes. As there is no option, I had taken debt and started a small scale business to run my family."

Sujatha, who works as an artiste, said, "I came into the film industry just before the Covid-19. It was not so tough for female artistes to get opportunities in the film industry when compared to male artistes. I got opportunities in the very early stage only but situations reversed after pandemic. Suddenly, shootings got cancelled. Though shoots are started again, crowds are not allowed. New artistes like me are not getting calls from the production houses."