‘I would work for 22 hours non-stop,’ Chetan Hansraj recalls working on Ekta Kapoor serials: ‘I would take a nap in between shots’

But, unlike many who have spoken about that experience in a negative way, Chetan Hansraj called it the “most amazing experience of my life”, and said that this was the “golden period of television.” Thanking Ekta Kapoor for the opportunity, Chetan recalled how his life changed in the first year when he worked with the production house. “When 2004 started, my bank balance wasn’t that great. In fact, it was too weak. But, by the end of 2004, I got married, I bought a house in Bandra and I bought a car, my first car so my life was transformed,” he said.

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Recently, Shweta Tiwari, who played the lead role in Kasautii Zindagi Kay, shared that she would sometimes shoot for 72-hours non-stop when she was filming for the show. In a chat with Bharti Singh on her YouTube channel, Shweta shared, “Our industry was known for the fact that no one ever used to sleep or take rest. I used to shoot for 72 hours straight, without a break. After working a 30-day schedule, I used to get payment for 45 days, and that is because my first shift used to be from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening, and the second shift was from 7 in the evening to 2 am in the morning.”

Previously, actor Krystle D’Souza, in a chat with Siddharth Kannan, said that she would faint because of exhaustion but even then, she wouldn’t get a break. “I have shot for 60 hours non-stop. I have fainted on the sets so many times. The team had to call for an ambulance. I would get IV drips and medicines, and go back to shoot. There was no time even go to the hospital, (laughs) they would bring the hospital on set,” she said.