Somewhere down the script, television actors stopped being poor cousins of filmstars. "They are now richer cousins," says Shekar Suman.
Television, once considered the domain of either failed film actors or struggling wannabes, has matured into a respectable, upmarket industry.
And if it's raining money in television, stars have already learned how to spend it. Take Mona Singh (Jassi of Sony's Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin).
Before she moved to Mumbai from Pune four years ago, Singh was like any other star-struck middle-class girl. She would live in a rented one-room flat at Four Bungalows and travel in second-class train compartments.
Gorging on Italian and Continental food was something her better-off friends did. Then Jassi... happened and changed her life forever.
Now she lives in a spacious two-bedroom-hall-kitchen (BHK) flat at Lokhandwala, drives a Hyundai Accent, and unapologetically indulges in her fetish—buying handbags. "I am yet to buy the costliest handbag. Louis Vuitton (it costs over Rs 2 lakh)," says the girl whose other love is perfume.
Gucci, Calvin Klein, you name them and she has them. Although she refuses to answer the indecent question of how much she earns, a source says that she charges around Rs 30,000 per episode.
Unlike Mona Singh, who became a household name almost overnight, Ahmedabad-born Ronit Roy acted in a hopeless film, directed a serial, ran a security agency for film stars (his Ace Security and Protection provided security to the unit of Aamir Khan's Lagaan), before hitting the big time as Mihir Virani of the popular soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. On Balaji's payroll, Roy is rumoured to get Rs 10 lakh a month. With a house at Lokhandwala and a Scorpio to drive, Roy is among the wealthiest television stars. His wardrobe resembles that of a maharaja's — it has everything from sherwanis to suits. But shoes are Roy's weakness. "I must have collected over 90 pairs," informs the actor who has a difficult job of playing the ideal husband of India's best-known bahu Tulsi or Smriti Irani of Kyunki.... Many other Kyunki... stars have hit a goldmine too.
Like Aman Verma, who was an insignificant bit actor before the serial. "Like any struggler, I craved for recognition. Kyunki and later Khulja Simsim gave me everything that I have today," says this Delhi boy who now owns two houses — one each at Bandra's Pali Hill and Lokhandwala. He drives a Mitsubishi Lancer and a Pajero, and holidays at Macau in Hong Kong and Genting Island in Malaysia "whenever I feel like shutting it off". He is also fond of sunglasses. Pierre Balmain at Rs 20,000 is the costliest one he has acquired, so far. The actor who may anchor Indian Idol Part 2, is said to charge Rs 30,000 an episode.
Like the big screen, there are countless rags-to-riches stories in television too. Leggy Rakhshanda Khan — Tanya of Kyunki... and Mallika Seth of Jassi...—used to just anchor shows that came her way. Then she discovered that she could act. A call from Kyunki... changed her forever, from a doll-like blue-eyed daughter of a humble homeopath in Andheri. She now owns a two-bedroom house in Yamuna Nagar, Andheri, and drives a Toyota Corolla. And when work becomes excruciatingly boring, she flies off to Dubai to shop. She must have bought around 60 pairs of handbags and dozens of watches, according to her. "I want to buy a Cartier watch (worth Rs 1 lakh) one day," says Khan whose family initially resisted her entry into the glamour world.
All the hardship these actors faced is but a doorstep to a life on the fast lane.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
