Before turning screenwriter for acclaimed films, Varun Grover worked as a writer for several popular TV shows including The Great Indian Comedy Show and Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun. Recently, in an interview with The Lallantop, he recalled his experience working as a writer on the talk show Oye! It’s Friday!, hosted by Farhan Akhtar.
'Farhan Akhtar Earned Rs 45 Lakh For Saying Jokes I Wrote For Rs 45,000': Varun Grover On Pay Disparity Between Writers And Actors
Varun Grover quit writing for television after realising that there is a huge difference between the salary of writers and actors.
Varun said that after Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun, he joined Farhan's Oye! It’s Friday!, when he realised that "there was not much value addition happening from the side of the performer to the material" he was writing for them. It was the first time he came to know how much the actors earn by doing such shows and he didn't assume the gap would be so big.
"But once I learnt about it – maybe it’s false information and somebody told me this only to provoke me; I can’t say for sure – I realised the gap was huge. He was being paid Rs 45 lakh for each episode, while I was earning just Rs 45,000," said Grover.
Varun also added that the extravagant set with the props cost as much as his remuneration per episode. "It was my material, and he was just delivering the lines. (Although he’s getting paid 100 times more) There wasn’t 100 times the value added. The show was shot in Yash Raj Studio. It was a really good, expensive set. Had I stolen one of those twinkling balls hanging there each day, my daily Rs 45,000 would’ve been sorted. That was the first time I saw such a dazzling set," he added.
He had lost interest in writing stand-up for television and it was the time when censorship had started. So, he quit writing for TV shows.
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