‘We Can’t Take This Anymore,’ Mumbai Movie Light Men Are Quitting Their 18-Hour Jobs
Mumbai houses Bollywood, the same Bollywood whose films are being made on a budget of a few thousand crores. They are also earning over a thousand crores, or at the very least a few hundred crores. Some of the top Bollywood actors demand fees ranging from double digits to triple digits, and again in crores.
But what about the crew members, the people behind the scenes who actually are doing the painstaking and back-breaking work of getting those movies made?
Turns out that the wage disparity and working conditions have gotten so bad that many are choosing to quit the film business to instead work at Swiggy or Ola as gig workers.
These are the same people who light up those scenes that make audiences go ‘wow’ in amazement, who ensure that the hero’s face looks perfect on screen while they drip that single manly tear. However, these same people are choosing gig work, just because, compared to what they’ve been putting up with on film sets for decades, it’s the saner option.
Bollywood’s Light Men Quitting Films To Work At Swiggy/Ola?
According to a The Hollywood Reporter India report, the difficult working conditions many crew members of the Hindi film industry are still suffering from are making them turn toward alternative jobs.
Gaffer Sajid Shaikh, of All Film Equipment, speaking with THR India, said,“Some lightmen are hardcore, specialised technicians who are essential to keep sets safe — it’s directly related to electricity, and therefore to human life. If an efficient person isn’t in charge, a tragedy can happen. They are specialised technicians, not generic labourers. But because they don’t get paid, many are leaving to become Swiggy and Zomato delivery boys as it pays better and reliably. It is happening rapidly as we speak. ‘We can’t take this anymore bhai, we have to leave’ — that is what a technician told me recently. Specialised people are walking away simply because they aren’t being compensated.”
Arjun Singh, director of Light Craft and Sound, a leading rental vendor of film equipment, also spoke about the risks the lightmen take versus the abysmal pay they still get. In a social media post, Singh said, “The lightmen who work for us play with risks — they play with live current, which means they are playing with their lives.”
“If we at least increase their wage by just ₹300 to ₹400 for a 12-hour shift, every lightman, every technician will work happily. They will finally get some light in their own lives! This is a request to all producers, not a demand.”
Shaikh also commented on how the working hours of the crew started to change, but not for the better. He said, “It used to be that if there was a 9:00 AM shift, people would arrive at 8:30 AM, have breakfast, and start at 9:00 AM. Gradually, production started taking advantage of it and made that extra hour mandatory. Then came the ‘grace periods.’ First it was five minutes, then 15, then 45, and now it’s an hour or more of unpaid overtime. A 12-hour shift becomes 15 hours just like that.”
The Problem With Mumbai Film Industry
This is not the first time that issues with the crew members of Bollywood films and their toxic working conditions have come forward. In July 2026, a production house named Reelzen Creative posted a multi-part series where lightmen from the film industry talked about the problems with their job.
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In May, Kamil Qureshi, a ‘Bollywood BTS technician’, posted about how“the hard work of Lightmen stays hidden.” The account often posts about the behind-the-scenes of moviemaking, focusing especially on the technicians and crew members who keep working even when the actors are not on set.
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In the video, Suraj Gautam, owner of Wide Light in Delhi, explained that “To reach the set on time, I give a call time of 3 am.” He also revealed that despite how physically demanding their job is, they are paid as little as just Rs. 1,800 for one shift, regardless of how long it is.
Freelance lightman Dinesh Bharti spoke about how “We don’t have any fixed hour to start our day. It can be either 2 am or 5 am. In this film industry, lightmen have the most demanding job. Yet they are paid the least.”
Dinesh also explained that overtime is only given if they work 17 or 18 hours, but not if the shift extends just a few hours over the decided time.
This post is tagged under: Bollywood, Mumbai Film Industry, Lightmen, Gig Economy, Swiggy, Ola, Film Crew, Labour Rights, Working Conditions, FWICE, Indian Cinema, Daily Wage Workers, Film Industry Crisis, Workers Rights, Bollywood lightmen quitting jobs, Bollywood crew low pay, Bollywood crew wage problems
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