Rubina Dilaik became a household name after her stint as Simran Gill in the popular soap opera Choti Bahu. She amassed a huge fan following and was also ranked number 10 in the Top 50 Sexiest Asian Women by Eastern Eye.
Recently, in an interview with an entertainment portal, she opened up about her struggling days. She spoke about how she lost a lot of shows because she would request changes in her contract. But she was told ‘we don’t change our rules for anyone and to work with us, you have to follow them’.
The actress said, “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 an understanding of the work ethics and legal knowledge, I realized that almost 90% of the actors, including me, sign one-sided contracts, favoring the production house. 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.”
Talking about her working hours, she said, “I even played double roles in harsh conditions, yet I wasn’t paid my dues for the last three months, which were in lakhs.”
Talking about the financial struggles, she said, “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.
Talking about negotiations, Rubina said, “After crying my heart out, the production house finally called me up for negotiation. 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.”
She was exhausted by all the exploitation and finally gave in. She said, “[By the end of it], I was tormented and desperate, so I agreed to all of it and stepped out crestfallen with the negotiated amount. It led me to depression, but I took this as a learning experience and moved on with a renewed determination to never let anyone walk over my well-deserved and hard-earned money.”
Kudos to Rubina Dilaik for speaking up!
Currently, she’s playing the role of Soumya in the series Shakti — Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki.
Images source: Instagram
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