Bollywood Actor Criticizes Industry for Lack of Rights and Frustrating Career

Actor Kitu Gidwani has spent over four decades in the entertainment industry, working across films and television and building a career that includes memorable projects such as Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Fashion and Dhobi Ghat, as well as iconic TV shows like Shaktimaan and Swabhimaan. Now, the veteran actor has opened up about some of her biggest frustrations with Bollywood, calling the industry "fake" and questioning its treatment of artistes, particularly older women.

Key Development

Bollywood is not a real industry; it’s a cottage industry. It’s a fake industry; it goes by its own vague rules. There is nothing like Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild in India. I should have been able to work for 10 years and then live off my royalties for the next ten years, not slog for 40 years. Intellectual property rights and creative rights are zero in India.

She further criticised the lack of rights actors have over their work, pointing out that producers typically pay actors and directors a one-time fee and then retain complete ownership and control over the property. She added, "It’s not like that anywhere in the world. My grouse against the industry is that older women are not getting powerful roles. We don’t want to play the generic mother or maasi. We want to play good, enduring roles with sex, love, power, comedy, and action. In daily soaps, once a woman hits 30, she becomes a daadi. She has no signs of aging on her face, but she gets such roles. This industry is very bizarre.”

In Hollywood, actors are represented by unions such as SAG-AFTRA, while writers and directors have the WGA and DGA, respectively. These unions have negotiated provisions that can provide performers and writers with additional payments when films, television shows or otherare reused, syndicated, licensed or made available on certain platforms. These payments are often referred to as residuals.

Kitu began her acting journey in 1984 with the film Holi, which also featured Aamir Khan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Om Puri and others. She gained popularity after starring in the TV series Air Hostess, which aired on Doordarshan in 1986. She then played Svetlana in Swabhimaan, which made her a household name. She later joined Shaktimaan, playing Geeta Vishwas, a news reporter who stood for the truth. However, she left the show after a few episodes.

Apart from television, Kitu has also received critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Dance of the Wind (1997), Deepa Mehta’s Earth (1998), Govind Nihalani’s Rukhmavati Ki Haveli (1991), Kamal Haasan’s Abhay and Deham (2001).