Shooting for daily soaps is no cakewalk, for TV actors are often required to shoot for 16-18 hours in a day. But guess what’s even more surprising? Artists get their paychecks only after 90 days of hard work, and they end up struggling more for money or being dependent on their savings.

“Well, this trend was set long before I got into the industry, and I had to comply because I was fresh off the boat. Later, with understanding of the work ethics and legal knowledge, I realised that almost 90% of the actors, including me, sign one-sided contracts, favouring the production house,” reveals the actor who is currently seen in the show Shakti Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki.

Unhappy with this exploitation that still prevails, Rubina says, “Working for over 12 hours, 30 days a month and being paid after 90 days, and in many cases even more than that, isn’t only unethical but is against working laws.”

And the real haggle started only after the show went off air. “For nine months, I pleaded for my money, went to the actors association for help, but no one cared or helped apart from [making] big fancy promises. I had to sell off my house and property because I couldn’t pay off my EMIs.

After crying my heart out, the production house finally called me up for negotiation,” she narrates.When the actor tried making addendum to a few points in the contract, she either lost the show or was bluntly told by the makers that ‘we don’t change our rules for anyone and to work with us, you have to follow them’. The lack of choices led Rubina to give in to their terms.

And when the negotiations finally started, the reasons given for the cut in her pay were bizarre, the actor shares. “They’d say things like, ‘We have uplinks on your name for the number of hours or you didn’t shoot because of torn sari blouse, you fell sick, you asked for a half day This just added to my agony because there was no truth in all that.”