Kaajel Patel

Children at Work

Children at Work: Episode 4: Bollywood

BBC Two

Episode 4

Episode 4: Bollywood

Bollywood

BBC Two - Children at Work, Bollywood

Kaajel Patel finds out about child performers working in the Bollywood film industry.

Series exploring the everyday lives of children who go to work. Kaajel Patel from Leicester finds out about child performers working in the Bollywood film industry.

Two hundred million children around the world go to work every day. This series explores their everyday lives. In Mumbai, south India, 20-year-old Kaajel Patel from Leicester finds out about the world of child performers in Bollywood. She spends a week following the lives of three girls who all work within the television and film industry - Ayesha, aged 15, Ulka, aged 14, and Afsha, who is only eight. They have all had success in child roles, but they all have different stories to tell. 

Kaajel finds out how these girls cope with the pressures of fame, the competition and what it is like having pushy parents. She sees how the glamour of on-screen life contrasts with their everyday lives, and asks how these young girls manage their busy working lives around education, auditions and friendships. Plus, she sees how their work is supporting their families to give them all a better life.

Mumbai is a city of dreams, and people flock there from all over India in search of wealth, success and fame. But competition is fierce and only a lucky few make it. As Bollywood continues to grow into one of the biggest television and film industries in the world, it is creating its own rules and values, which often cut across traditional lines and even prejudice. As Kaajel discovers, Bollywood is not just an industry, it is a national institution that unites a country of 1.1 billion, and talented young actors are an integral part of its appeal.

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