Nikhil Prabhakar has been an active part of the Indian film industry. He has worked over various Films / Web-series / TVC’s /Award shows/ Reality shows as a Creative Associate / Assitant Director.
Lenses and Frames have always amused Nikhil from the very beginning.
His undying love of capturing everything and anything around him has paved his way to the Industry.
He believes ever-existing element to see the face of the earth has a story and narrative if you accept them as they are.
Nikhil accepts technicality is a necessity to execute anything creative but technicality has nothing to Do with Ideas.
Transcript:
Vanshaj – Hi Nikhil, I’m here to ask for your opinions regarding my research question. And my research question is how can we develop a bridge between Indian artisans and film professionals?
So I just need your views about this question that as you are an active part of the film industry in India, you have worked on different projects in India on different films, web series, as a creative professional as an assistant director.
What do you feel about this question? As a professional?
Nikhil – I think, honestly, the gap between artists and professionals is closing in pretty soon, pretty fast. I think the industry is anywhere across the globe, be it Bollywood beat Hollywood beat the Dutch cinema, the Koreans, I think everyone is moving pretty fast and audience the expected audiences rapidly growing. So I don’t think there is, you know, we’re not, I wouldn’t say that we are backward or people are lacking opportunities, especially here when it comes to making money exploitation. As far as exploitation is considered, yes, exploitation is everywhere. You can’t just blame the industry here, or the entertainment industry for specifics. If you walk into any corporate, I’m, I’m sure you cannot point one company, one single, corporate MNC that is not you know, exploiting their employees at certain levels, I am sure there are peons. There, you know, lower-class workers are being exploited, they’re giving in a number of hours and being paid them with the bare minimum. Like, you know, certain countries like you are in the UK right now, you guys working hour limits. And a place like India does not have anything that they follow working hours or, you know, limit working hours, there is no union monitoring all that. But in fact, in India, for the lower class people, there are unions that monitor such things that people don’t get exploited, we being at a senior post, we don’t have any limitation of, you know, we’re going to work eight hours a day, usually taking us easily 16 to 18 hours a day.
So you get what, like six hours to do everything, you know, clean yourself, sleep, or whatever you want to engage in. So there’s the bare, bare minimum time, for your personal self. In fact, for that fact, or the lower class, your example, especially for our industry, if you go to the boys, we’re working a setting, you go to the boys, we’re working as spot boys on set, they have strict and very prominent or union rules, where you know, even if their ship goes up by a minute, even the production does not question them. But you know, it was just a minute or two, they tried to negotiate, they don’t even consider negotiating with them, because they know that the union is going to screw them for it. And they work for shifts to shift, and even a minute over, they get paid for the whole half shift or whatever the regulation is. So I think the gap is no more there. I think it’s moving pretty progressively. And, you know, entertainment is probably I think, is probably the highest-paid sector. Because I, me being from this industry, and I’ve started like, what’s four years ago, and now I have friends in the same mother in different sectors, where they are in the corporates, or they’re, you know, working for some other company into some division. But my growth considered has been very fast. I started at an example, I started at a salary of 20,000 rupees back in 2018. And today, I’m working at 70K here. But all my friends were into other sectors, they started at least started better. They started with 30K examples. But even after three years, they’re still at 45. So you see, it’s about who can know if you want the opportunities are out there. It’s about how you make use of it. Anyone sitting up sitting back and cribbing about the fact that you know, we are exploited, we don’t have opportunities, I think there’s ample opportunity. there’s ample opportunity by me, not just me if, for the present, we talk if I’m sitting in my with a team of six people, I witness at least one person getting a call to join some other project and they’ll have to put it down because they’re part of another project right now and they can’t take it up. So I don’t see the lack of work. I think all I see is the lack of effort. Or you know, people being snobbish or snobbish about it that you know, I don’t have a contact I don’t have a Godfather, I don’t have a Godfather, and no one around me right now has a word father in the industry, but people are stepping up who Want to do it? We’ll do it. And honestly, in my opinion, I think entertainment is something that if you know what, you’re paid, unbelievably amazing. You know you’re giving in hours. If you’re working on a day basis, like sure I’m working on a project basis. But if you get shorter projects, I don’t know if anyone can name me a project where, you know, someone works for three days and gets paid over 1.5 lakhs? I don’t think so.
So the industry is doing pretty good for you.
Vanshaj -Yeah, it’s doing pretty good undoubted. But to what in the case of the artisans, those are not educated enough. And they, they don’t know about the schemes, the policies about their benefits, and they work with the designers and film, as a stylist. And they don’t even get paid enough. I have had a word with him, like many artisans, who are not getting benefits out of their work. And they do a pretty good job. But, but the aim of this bridge is to provide them the desired wages, and to connect them to like to access opportunities in the film industry. So right now, it’s not happening, they are not working directly. You are working with some middleman and he is he or she is copying his designs. He is not getting paid well. So So what are your thoughts on this?
Nikhil – See, I completely agree about the fact that you know, you people getting doomed, or cheated, where their ideas or thoughts are stolen. That’s a very common problem, that I think that goes with every any sort of idea, we need a business idea, we need a creative idea. But then there there there is the point where you’re where you mentioned that you know, the people have lack of knowledge. So I think that’s correct. lack of knowledge is something that we need to work on. And I think that’s the only area we need to work on. That, you know, spreading awareness across these people that how they can approach better opportunities, the opportunities that already exist, not that we have to create opportunities for them. There are opportunities out in the world, and it’s a huge market. But I think people are unaware. So I think the only process of this is that since there are unions monitoring these people, for example, a craftsman who is you know, carpenter, who’s working on a set on daily wages basis, although he’s paid well, me being assistant director, I am calculating myself for like about 2200 rupees a day. And that’s and craftsmen, a carpenter working well is also making 1700 rupees a day, I have a degree, he does not have one. But there is not much gap between what you’re making. And then seniors, there is always an owner, and there’s always an employee so that the difference will always be there. Like this measurement example, I am considering or I’m assuming that when you mentioned measurement, so you’re saying our director who has a team of all these people who do different odd jobs for him, and then he presents them as his idea. But then this is how everything works. I don’t think it can be blamed. But I honestly feel that these unions can actually run workshops, or at least awareness or talks, you know, they can have these groups, like I’m sure all these people dealing with all these emotional problems, alcoholism, they are the self-help groups where we will get together with the same issues. They talk about their problems, or how they were trying to keep up in hopes of motivating someone or getting motivated. Or, you know, learning something, taking something back home, you come there and you take something back with you. In so same way I think they can organize or natural self-help groups for such people where they sit and there’s one person who’s giving out all this information, are they running a circular of you know, these jobs, these particular jobs are available, this is the requirement. And this is what you should get paid. Don’t settle for anything less. This is what you can ask for. No one can exploit you. And once the union is involved, obviously, no authority, no authorization, or no form questions, because it’s basically the union running the regulation. So I feel that the union is to be blamed if there are people who have trusted the union and you know, bought a freaking membership, paying 70,000 for a card to identify a resident that I belong to this unit union, and then that union does not do anything for them, then it’s the union. So like, very basic example when every time a country is into a shortage situation. People say it’s the government’s fault. And which is true, it is the government is the people at the higher post who are messing things up who are not going according to Like the blinds they’ve been put out to, they’re manipulating it according to themselves. So it’s the unions that here it’s the unions is the authority body, and then they, for their personal benefits, mingle with these production houses paying the money, but it’s paying the money to the wrong person to one body. And though people actually working for it are getting affected. And then the word goes around that this production houses so and so they don’t pay well, which is not true. So it’s a blame game like every other field in this world like life basically.
Vanshaj – That’s true. So I really like this is a very good insight about the union unions running the workshop. And so like what you feel in future are these kinds of unions are willing to participate and eradicate this problem in future and how we can, like, make this a real thing.
Nikhil – I can speak for the industry I work for I don’t know how Hollywood is functioning or any other industry in any other country functioning right now. But for Bollywood, I can say that sees there are specific unions like the Indian Film and TV Association, which is a strict union and it only and only works for the welfare of the people. Like should it’s not it’s non-profit. It is only working for the benefit. But then you have all these XYZ or unions formed out of I don’t know where what I don’t understand how BJP has a federal union. Our Congress is a union, our shape was seen as a film union, it makes no sense. They’re obviously only working for profit. And they give you cards, like the example, you have a card from BJP, and you’re shooting somewhere. And in that area, Congress comes to inspect, and they see your BJP union guard, they will still charge you for not having a valid card because it’s from the other party. So I think if it narrows down to that these people are not allowed to run such unions. And only these authoritative where people are elected to be a part of a board of a union, where the heads are elected through some basis, or at least on some basis. Like this guy has a background in filmmaking. He was a director, or you know, he was working like this, he has a piece of knowledge of this field. Such people are hired on a board, and then they execute union rules or union regulations, they will work for the benefit of the people. But someone who’s just a party member, like a political party member trying to go running a union, it’s only out of profit. So you cannot expect anything good out of that. So I think first my point would be that they should ban or you know, eradicate all these XYZ unions that coexist amongst each other without any reason. And if you make this an authoritative running body, regulated by the government that you know, we need these unions, and only these unions will monitor and no one else can, you know, poke or come in between, then I think it will be pretty easy and convenient, it will be convenient because then the whole of the entire working body. But the Jeepney whatever people are present amongst us. For example, there are a million workers. So right now, because those unions are millions are divided into hundreds of unions. So they like, one unit will have 100 people other will have 100. But if there’s only one union, there’ll be 1 million people under one union, and this union will only work for them and there’ll be more transparency. And then that one union, since there’s only one union, that all of that regulation will go across the nation or wherever people are functionally functioning according to one basic route, then it does not change state by state, it does not change area wise area, it does not change union to Union, that then that increases your chances of transparency. And then I think they’ll also make the functioning pretty smooth.
Vanshaj – Yeah, so like, as for your views, it’s like clearly, or it’s like clearly mentioning that we should have standardization and our registration of these unions across the country. And that will surely help and to work ethically, across the nation and across the globe. So yeah, that’s a very good insight for this research. So anything else you want to add on? For this question?
Nikhil – I said pretty much everything about it. But I once I saw heard about a question I was just intrigued with, the way I approached it was someone is trying to target that, you know, this particular sector of the economy is being exploited, like people who are being exploited, which I think is pretty much a false accusation. Yeah, they are overworked, for sure. But no one is exploited, especially the lower level of people, the craftsmen, the spot boys, the costumes or systems, the action people these days are paid pretty well and their union timings like our shift timings are monitored pretty strictly we don’t have anything such as our shifts that you know, we are only going to work eight hours and if we were given a minute, over eight hours, we are going to get paid for that these guys are actually paid. So you can’t say people are not making efforts or they’re not working for them. But then there are the glitches everywhere. You can’t really you know, point a finger at one thing, but I believe all these people working for profit, like with the word would i would call it unethical, unethical intentions, who just want to make money out of them they started a union trying to pretend that you know, we are going to help but which is not the case. They’re only doing that so that they can make money or they have some way to you know, ponder upon people.
Vanshaj- It’s very helpful I can see ideas that are not only ideas, but the reality the points, which we can work on, and which we can consider for this research. So thank you so much for today. Thank you so much. We’ll see you soon. See you soon.
Thank you.