“Most of the 5,000-odd workers, including actors, dubbing artistes, visual editors, sound technicians, cameramen and camera assistants are either out of work or have very less work. For the past six months or so, the industry is in a crisis,” Vijaya Krishnan, president, Confederation of TV Artists, Commercial Operators and Technicians (CONTACT) in Kerala, said.

Around 100 independent editing studios across the state have also been affected by the crisis. “Only 20 per cent of these studios have some work,” he said. Visual editors, who used to earn Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 monthly, are now hardly getting Rs 5,000. The situation is similar in the case of other technicians also.

Vasundhara Devi, a Thiruvananthapuram-based dubbing artiste, said over 100 artistes, who had been lending their voice for TV serial characters, were facing an acute financial crisis. According to R Gopinath, who has directed 15 serials, many directors have left the industry and were trying their luck in other fields. “Earlier, at least 36 TV serials were aired through six or seven prominent channels. Now the number has come down to about a dozen,” he said.

Around 10 such shows are currently aired by prominent entertainment channels, including Asianet, Surya, Kairali and Amritha. The most popular among them are music and dance competitions of the likes of Idea Star Singer and Vodafone Takadhimi. Shows based on acting and mimicry are also not lagging behind.

However, there are people in the industry who feel the crisis could be a temporary phenomenon. “People had become bored with the bombardment of melodramatic serials into their living rooms and obviously they found reality shows quite refreshing. But a profusion of such shows also would kill the viewers’ interest,” said Gopinath. He said the crisis has given a chance to the serial makers to retrospect and to think out-of-the-box.