‘Your time is ours’
Working on Taarak Mehta… meant putting everything else as low priority. Bansiwal recalled an incident in 2018, when she needed to book an appointment for her daughter’s passport application. She tried contacting both Modi and Ramani over three hours — to ask what time would be convenient for the appointment, given the shooting schedule — but they were unavailable. Ultimately, Ramani called her back and when Bansiwal told him she may need a few hours in the coming week to accompany her daughter for the passport appointment, he allegedly reacted angrily. “He started screaming ‘How dare you book these things without prior intimation?’ I tried to explain to him that I’d been trying to reach him for over three hours, and only then did I go ahead and book the appointment,” said Bansiwal. “It’s only a couple of hours, I’d be on set after that. But he kept screaming at me. I think he made this about his ego.”
After the incident in Singapore in 2019, when Bansiwal claims Modi propositioned her, the actor finally reached her breaking point on March 7 this year. Bansiwal had previously requested the makers to be allowed to leave by 10 am on that day, to attend a family Holi function from 11 am to 1pm. She had therefore reached the set at 7 am that day and she’d been told hers would be the first shot. However, things changed on set. When she was told by Ramani and Bajaj to stay back, she refused. When she tried to leave, Ramani and Bajaj allegedly tried to physically restrain her from leaving the set. Bansiwal says Bajaj stood behind her car, refusing to let her reverse, and Ramani forcibly opened the door of her car and screamed at her. This was when she decided to sever all ties with the crew of Taarak Mehta…, even if this meant not getting her dues of over three months.
Bhadoriya’s experiences were arguably worse. When her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, Bhadoriya would stay with her in the hospital during the nights. The actor said she was instructed to show up on set only an hour before her call-time. “Usually, call times are given to actors at least the day before, if not a week before,” she said. Frequently, once she reached the set, Bhadoriya would be kept waiting. “When I would ask them why they had called me if there was no shooting to be done, they would say ‘We pay you MG, so your time is ours.’ I would shoot back saying, ‘So, are you taking your revenge on me now?’” Bhadoriya recalled.