Twinkle...cast says 'no' to legal action!

Sab Tv's Twinkle Beauty Parlour is a show which first made news for its unusual concept, and got caught in the media glare once again when a large part of the cast - some of them well-known - was told that they were not needed any more! Reports in some newspapers stated that the dumped actors were upset and were contemplating legal action against the channel and the producers. Well, the news is that the cast has decided to reason out things with those concerned rather than fight a legal battle. Maninnee Misra, essaying the character of Ragini, an integral part of the show completely denies even thinking of moving legally against SabTV. But she says she would like the channel management to explain why such a one-sided and unfair decision taken. "This is something I am experiencing for the very first time. I have very good relations with most of the channels, but I must say that I am very put off by Sab's behaviour," she says. Smita Bansal who is holidaying with her family in Goa says, "Well, as of now, I don't know what others have decided, so once I am back I'll discuss it with them, and will be in a better position to comment." Simple Kaul agrees that proceeding legally was not on. She says: "On a real note, we can't go legal in this case, but, yes, we will be meeting the channel soon, as whatever happened with us was unjust. We should have been informed well in advance." Rajev Paul - one of the aggrieved cast says that actors commit dates to shows, production houses and channels who block them from taking on any other assignments. "Often, they use some of the days only for shoots and we get paid only for those dates," he adds. "We lose an opportunity to earn a living on those days when we are not working. I think that is pretty unfair. In the Twinkle case, production houses had asked me for dates and i had said no to them because I was committed to it. Then to be dropped suddenly without a bye or leave can hurt." An industry source points out that most artistes - including actors - don't get a copy of the contract they sign for TV shows as normally these lie with the channel and the producer. And this probably was the case with Twinkle also, which is why its cast has chosen to change the hard course they were thinking of taking. "Actors have to wise up," says a veteran actor. "While some of them do throw tantrums and make unreasonable demands letting their celebrity status carry them away, most of them have no idea about their legal rights and responsibilities." Hopefully, l'affaire Twinkle has helped educate some of them at least. . .