Pankaj Bhatia on his video about non-payment of dues from last show: The purpose was to make the channel aware

Actor Pankaj Bhatia, known for shows like Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, recently took to Instagram to share that his dues for one of his shows haven’t been paid for over a year. Talking about it, he tells us, “It’s the case with about 50-60 actors as well. The whole purpose of that video was to make the channel aware and reach people who are making policies for the channel.”

The actor says that the situation currently is such that after a show ends, the channel allots the final payment to producers. However, instead of clearing the actors’ dues first, makers often jump into another project. “My video isn’t about the pending payments but the channel’s policies. They aren’t keeping a check if the money they are sanctioning is reaching the actors or not. The policy is that you get payment after 90 days of shooting. At the end, it’s the channel’s product and it’s their duty to see if the people working for them are getting their dues. I am doing this for the fraternity,” he shares, adding that before 2011-12, the process was such that the producers had to get clearance certificate from all actors before jumping in their next show, but it changed since then.

Bhatia, who was last seen in the show Saavi Ki Savaari, refuses to divulge the name of the show and producers as he says he is still in discussion with them to clear the payments. However, he informs that his payment has only been cleared till April 2023 yet and the show went off-air in the latter half of 2023. “I am talking to the producers, and they have given me a date. In the last six months, even they have been stuck. They want to clear the payment but doing that for everyone together isn’t feasible for them too. But I also have to pay my daughter’s fees. If the producers don’t stick to the date, I will have to knock the associations’ (CINTAA) door,” he says.