Nila Nila odi vaa...

This is about an article I recently read in a Tamil magazine which perturbed my mind very much. Child Labor! Yes. There are laws to knock down child labor. But what about Child Artiste?? Are they really considered under child labor? This is something which I had already read somewhere sometime back. Not sure who raised it. May be some politician. But then it didn't get into my mind. I just thought people are making issues, because I was under a mindset that there wouldn’t be any issues for a child artiste.

But then when I read the article about it I was moved. The article was about the Documentary film made by actress Rohini 'Nila nila odi vaa'. The film deals with the child artiste and all the sufferings they have. We cannot conclude that all the children who are artiste have a bitter experience. It's something to do with parents. There are some parents who live on the earning of their child before camera. The child is burdened with the responsibilities and forced to forget his/her own dreams of future. It was surprising to know that they are even denied studies. It's very common with parents who had failed to enter the film industry and they force their interest on their kid. They are comfortable in being a manager for their own kid. The children are then blemished with the luxury or publicity or money they earn out of it. In later stage they start dreaming about being a hero or heroine which is not that easy job. What is their future then if they fail to achieve it?

I also read about some of the scenes of that documentary film .The child may be even suffering from fever or illness at the time of shoot. Also the costumes may be very much uncomfortable for them. Getting up very early or staying whole night for the shoot.
It seems that in Hollywood there are some rules to be followed if a child artiste is involved in the film shooting. The shoot for the child can be only on Saturday or Sunday or on holidays. Not more than 5 or 6 hours of continuous shoot. And if the shoot is on a week day then a teacher has to accompany to teach the lessons.

However in India, I’m not sure if there are any laws that are already in place. If not I feel something has to be done for this. Let’s see how far this film by Rohini is reaching the minds of the parents of those child artistes. This film is also selected for the Indian film festival organized in US.