Child artists in films and TV work for over 12 hours a day: Study

'Contracts between parents and producers have clauses that do not allow the parent or the child artist to refuse shooting for 12 hours straight'

Child artists in films and television work for over 12 hours a day, according to leading child rights NGO, Child Rights and You (CRY), which conducted an extensive study on the issue.

Extremely long and erratic working hours with hardly any rest, lack of concern about education and parental disregard for regular schooling, often in pursuit of quick money and fame, are some of the salient elements that harm children working in the entertainment sector, according to the study conducted recently.

The study ‘Child Artists in India, An Exploratory Study in Mumbai’ focuses on qualitative data and estimates made on child artists in Mumbai, as collated from secondary data.

Commenting on the study findings, Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director, CRY (West) said, “Child artists are often the invisible victims of child labour. They enter an adult world without the requisite support, care and safeguards that should be in place and are ignored by all stakeholders, including parents. Having laws in place for these children is futile, unless there is a commitment from all stakeholders to ensure the rights of these children. It is time to seriously look at the conditions of children working in the entertainment sector and to ensure they are protected, even while their talents are allowed to flourish.”

While there are no precise statistics available on the estimated number of child artists in the country, a sample of seven casting agencies that contained a total of 41,392 profiles of artists online (across India), suggested that 24.9 per cent were classified as child actors (i.e. under the age of 15). There were nearly 3,752 profiles of female child actors listed on these casting agency portals, and 4,642 profiles of male child actors.

Taking the two largest casting agency portals, the study found that the share of child artists/actors in the total number of actors listed is approximately 12.2 per cent on average. The portal search also suggests that 8.7 per cent of all male actors are child actors, and 15.7 per cent of all female actors are under the age of 18.

Although The Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (CALPRA), 1986 makes it mandatory that no child shall be allowed to work for more than five hours a day, and for not more than three hours without rest (Rule 2C(1)(a)), many child artists end up working for 12-13 hours for six days a week, according to a press statement released on Thursday.

“Contracts drawn between parents and producers have clauses that do not allow the parent or the child artist to refuse shooting for 12 hours straight. If the child is the protagonist of the film, she/he is required to shoot for 25 days out of the 30-day shoot schedule. It was observed that parents too did not have many reservations about letting their children work overtime. This is also evident from their (parents’) willingness to have their children available for odd shooting hours and skip school days. Often, these child artists are the sole breadwinners of their families which leads to increasing their vulnerabilities/exposure to facing exploitation in the work set up,” said the report.

The study also highlights the fact that Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) has come across cases where parents have discontinued formal education of child artists. Since education is looked at as the means to get employment in the future, when child artists get employment at a young age, their parents feel that it is their craft as an artist that needs to be worked on rather than their formal education.