I just read about Sara Khan (the Bidaai girl) starting her own beauty parlour. She is already a partner with three of her small screen colleagues in an acting school. And Sara is no exception. Most of her ilk are doing the same and channelising their earnings to other more lucrative business options. Gone are the days when actors died in penury. The new age actors are an intelligent breed which believes in investing wisely and hence saving for the rainy day. Stories of yesteryear actors dying on the streets are a thing of the past. Fortunately with the turn of time actors, especially small screen stars, have realised that they come with a short shelf life and therefore need to be wiser with their finances. As a result of being street smart they have plush homes, drive swanky cars and make the right investments. A number of television actors are launching innovative ventures ranging from spas to event management companies and production houses. The trend began with Smriti Z Iraani launching her production house, but other actors are fast catching up. Small screen stars are joining the growing list of celebrity entrepreneurs. Shweta Tiwari (aka Prerna in Kasauti Zindagi Kay) followed suit and chose to launch a low-investment production business with her then husband Raja Choudhary. Other actors who have Plan B in place are Rakshanda Khan (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi’s Tanya) who has an event management company and Riva Bubber (was again in Kyunki) who runs a dog salon. Other actors cum entrepreneurs are Anuj Saxena who owns a pharmaceutical company and a production house while Ronit Roy runs a security providing agency. Vineet Raina is into garments and Shaleen Bhanot into exports. To reason this out I guess this is because nowadays most of the actors are very well educated and come armed with an academic degree. A lot of them are MBAs and some even engineers. And it is this educational background that helps them make the right choices. Also there are reasons why people do more than one job. For some, it just happens, for others, it’s an obligation to help out in the family business while still doing something else. But for most its all about personal financial security. Since most of the small screen actors do not last long because of the complexities of the medium, they look at various options. For most the big screen is the next logical step but often this remains a distant dream. And it is then that they need to have an alternate career option. And since acting on TV is definitely a well paying career their savings are rightly channeled. What with the case of the biggest superstar of the industry Amitabh Bachchan who was compelled to turn to the small screen in order to wipe out the losses his AB Corp faced that the younger lot seems to have taken a leaf out of his book. For these young actors it’s better to be safe than sorry and what they say about making hay while the sun shines the most. Read more...