Is the current workforce inadequate?
A question of numbers

At a time when the existing workforce in filmdom hardly has work enough to last it throughout the year, can the industry afford to sign on fresh faces?
TODAY, the trends of filmmaking have drastically changed. The new breed of filmmakers lays more emphasis on dazzling dances and eye-catching locales. They want every film to look rich, have a posh finish and exude grandeur. In short, they want to give a 5-star status to films. Since the overseas market fetches nearly Rs 10 crore for a big film, everybody is trying to pack more glamour into his film so that it acquires international standards. Whether it is a scene showing a pre-marriage function or a betrothal ceremony or even an event on the streets, producers want these to look glamorous. Obviously, they want young boys and girls as well as dancers for these scenes and do not want to engage the tired old-timers. They want young faces even for the crowd scenes.

But does the film industry possess an infrastructure providing a workforce of young good-looking dancers and junior artistes? Sadly, no. Even if the Cine Dancers Association and the Junior Artistes Association claim they have the required workforce, it still falls short of the requirements. It is not films alone which require young faces but also television serials. While the film industry has enough new technicians to go around, it is not easy to get a large number of junior artistes and dancers at a moment’s notice. If 500 more young dancers are added to the existing 500-odd dancers in the industry, can the industry absorb all of them? Similarly, how many young boys and girls can be enrolled as junior artistes to the already existing 1000?

All these jobs can be created but the requirements are not permanent. All the cine dancers and junior artistes do not find jobs for all the 30 days in a month. The larger the workforce you employ, the more unemployment it is bound to create. This dilemma has been worrying most of the craft unions: how do they cope up with the requirements of producers or dance directors, whether they be Farah Khan, Ganesh or Saroj Khan?

There was a time when hardly 10 to 20 dancers were needed for picturising a song on the hero and heroine. Now the dance directors use 100 dancers. In the South, it has become quite a fad to use a minimum of 100 dancers for a song picturisation. However big a canvas a scene or song may have, the 100-odd dancers would have a minuscule-look, with either their faces or even figures being hardly visible. But big numbers are an absolute necessity, or so the producers think. The Mumbai film industry, too, has become a prey to the fad. Whether the filming is in Switzerland or closer home, the producers take a large contingent of dancers all the way to the locales for the shoots, resulting in expendable overheads.

The inadequate workforce of dancers and junior artistes has created chaos. A model is engaged for scenes at fees upwards of Rs 2000 per shift. Young dancers from outside the industry are engaged as the existing dancers are either not quite fit, young or good-looking enough. Models who get a high remuneration do not want to be members of the Junior Artistes Association. Dance directors from Mumbai sometimes get dancers from Chennai to meet the shortage. There is a rule that no non-member should work in films. Recently, when a non-member was engaged by dance director Ganesh, he was thrown out of the set. But this happens only when it is detected. The influential filmmakers get away with it by paying huge sums. The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) is aware of this and so are the craft unions. But they do not want to displease the producer or dance director.

A problem of plenty
Madhusudan, the president of the FWICE, when contacted, agreed that the requirements of new producers for their new films have changed. "We are trying to see that no non-member works in films but in certain cases they slip our scrutiny. New types of films are being made by creating new set-ups. They want to infuse new blood and want new faces and new blood to come into films. As long as they work with the permission of the respective craft unions, there will be no problem for the new people. But a new problem has arisen because of the models who are brought by the co-ordinators. The models consider themselves to be neither dancers nor junior artistes and do not want to be members of either of these associations. But the models who come to work must become members. The manner in which they should be accommodated should be given a serious thought. Maybe the Junior Artistes Association has to create a new class of membership for the models to make them members. Likewise, the Cine Dancers Association has to find a solution as to how the new dancers engaged by choreographers for specific purposes should be accommodated," he said.

A question of demand and supply
Sheela Devkumar (Babi), who heads the association of extra-suppliers, said most of the dance directors were engaging dancers directly. Producers and directors were also engaging models directly by paying high remunerations. They do not want to become members of the Junior Artistes Association. "There’s nothing we can do about it," she says helplessly.

The demand is inflated
Amin Lakdawala, president of the Junior Artistes Association, flatly denied its membership lacked young blood. "The Association has enrolled 250 new members recently in addition to the existing 350 members. Now it is being suggested that a 1000 more new faces should be added. What is the use of adding 1000 new faces, when there is hardly enough work to last them a year? Hardly 30 big budget films are made which are not enough to provide work to all our members. It is because of the television serials that our members are not jobless", he said.

"The Junior Artistes Association," he continued, "is presently caught in legal hassles because one of its members, Hussain Shaikh, has betrayed them and misappropriated funds. He had not given account for the Rs 14,10,000 he collected as membership fees and Rs 2 lakhs as relief money and subscription. The matter came up before the FWICE and he paid only Rs 5 lakh while the remaining amount of Rs 11 lakh is yet to be returned. The Association has also filed a complaint with the Agripada police station and filed a case in the Mazgaon Court for cheating the Association. He has indulged in forgery by copying my signature and those of other committee members. We want this man to be exposed so that new members do not become a victim to such people," he said.

Producers call the shots
Jay Borade, president of the Dance Directors Association, agreed that drastic changes are required among the work force in the film industry as everybody wants to see new faces even in the inconsequential scenes. "Each choreographer has his own style of dances and requirements. When a producer spends crores of rupees on films, he cannot afford to compromise on the cast. We can’t help engaging dancers from outside because we do not want to displease the producers. It is upto the Cine Dancers Association to react to the demand. Otherwise it will suffer in the long run," he said.

Time for a rethink
Rakesh Roshan said that producers want good looking dancers and young people for the crowd scenes. We do lack in numbers though there are many new faces already. I think there is a need to look at the problem afresh. How else do we create the infrastructure for the new breed of filmmakers?," he asked.

Producer Viveck Vaswani agreed. He emphasised that at a time when filmmakers were trying to make films on an international scale with lots of gloss and glamour, there was need for a larger work force. "Our films must meet the international standards and production values. It’s no longer enough that only the hero and heroine possess glamour and the rest don’t. We need to have a larger work force, no matter how many of them are employed throughout the year. It is the quality that matters today," he added.

MSM Desai