Another actor from the TV show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah has come out in the open, spilling deets about the working conditions of the set. Actor Monika Bhadoriya who played Bawri in the show alleges that after she left the show in 2019, makers didn’t pay her dues of three months which equated around Rs. 4-5 lakhs, for over a year. “I have fought for my money for over a year. Unhone har artist ka paisa rok rakha hai - whether it was Raj (Anadkat), Gurucharan (Singh) Bhai - sirf torture karne ke liye. Unke paas paise ki kami nahi hai,” she says.

Bhadoriya recalls her days on the set as “hell”. Bhadoriya’s late mother was undergoing cancer treatment, while the makers of the show remained unsupportive towards her. “I would spend the night at the hospital and they would call me early in the morning for a shoot. Even if I would say I am not in the right state of mind, they would force me to come. The worst part was that even after coming on shoot, I would wait, mera kuch kaam hi nahi hota tha,” she shares.

When Bhadoriya’s mother passed away, the show’s producer Asit Kumarr Modi never called her to condole her. “I was in a trauma but he only called me seven days after my mother’s death, asking me to report on the set. When I said I wasn’t in condition, his team said, ‘Hum aapko paisa de rahe hai, hum jab chahe aap ko khada hona padega chahe aap ki Mummy admit ho ya koi.’ I went to the set because I had no option and I would just cry everyday. Upar se unka torture and misbehave bhi karte the. They would call me on the set an hour before the call time. Itni gundagardi hai unke set pe. He (Asit) says ‘I’m a God’,” she elaborates.

This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. “Maine bola mujhe kaam hi nahi karna aisi jagah jaha pe aapko kaam karke aisa lage ki issey better suicide karlo. Jo koi aa raha hai badtameezi se baat kar raha hai, Sohil sabse badtameezi se baat karte hai,” she adds.

Despite Bhadoriya’s claims of Modi’s unruly attitude, she says that no one from the current cast members will out him. “Jo show mein hai wo bolenge bhi nahi. He even made me sign the contract to not speak ill about them in the media. Jennifer (Mistry Bansiwal, actor) ji ne bhi baat nahi ki when others left the show. Jab unke saath jeezein hui toh wo boli. Sabko apni job bachana hai. Jitna torture unhone kiya haim kisi ne nahi kiya hai,” she shares.

Furthermore, Bhadoriya reveals that when she was signed on for the show, she was only paid a minuscule amount of Rs. 30,000 monthly for the show. “They had promised me to hike my fee after six months, but they never did. Wo paise ki beimaani karti hai. Sach mein woh kutte ki jaisa treat karte hain. Unhone mere saath bohot ganda behave kiya hai. And their EP Sohil Ramani is the worst. Bohot badtameez hai wo. Unhone toh Natttu kaka ko bhi abuse kiya tha,” she signs off.

When we reached out to Ramani and Modi for their comment, they remained unavailable till we went to the press.