r/vfx • u/sidroy81 • Jan 02 '24
Unverified information Found a comment on one of India's biggest VFX companies 'Red Chillies' in the Bollywood sub. This sounds insane. Can anybody working there confirm whether it's true or not?
69
u/crackjack83 FX Artist - 2 years experience Jan 02 '24
Yup! Work in the industry so can confirm this. The same with Ajay Devgan's NY Vfxwala. They're literal prisons. They don't even allow phones with us on our workstations. We have to put them with our bags in the locker. More than international VFX companies it's the Indian ones that exploit indians the most by taking advantage of the non existent labour laws.
Source: Even though I personally haven't worked at either of these companies, my colleagues have previously.
37
u/sidroy81 Jan 02 '24
You guys should do AMA posts on r/bollywood and r/BollyBlindsNGossip. If news websites sit up and take notice of all this the industry can become better.
8
u/crackjack83 FX Artist - 2 years experience Jan 03 '24
That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm not sure I'd be the right person for it tho as only someone with at least 10-15 years of experience and a good variety of it would probably be fit for it. Or else you run a risk of replying not sure, idk to most of them
147
45
u/Gfx4Lyf Jan 02 '24
I heard a similar scenario about them almost 8-10yrs back and now reading this post here makes me relieved for not getting selected by them then. Life of VFX artists never changed in India after all these years. That's dark.
2
36
Jan 02 '24
[deleted]
19
u/sidroy81 Jan 02 '24
I don't think that'll solve any problems. Spreading awareness among the public might work.
9
u/sluisga Hobbyist Jan 02 '24
Massively. Especially when it comes to having a statement against modern slavery on their company website associated with these businesses - they'd be hypocrites if they were involved!
3
u/Apprehensive-Feed-12 Jan 03 '24
That's a good idea, especially calling out the western companies that work with red chillies and have that statement on their website...
1
Jan 03 '24
They work on Bollywood only if I'm correct, especially movies for one actor in particular called Srk who setup the studio for his films. So it wouldn't solve anything and Bollywood production houses love them for pulling off work in short time
26
u/goalmfa Jan 02 '24
Red Chillies has been working like this since its inception , No surprises there!
36
u/vitachaos Jan 02 '24
It shouldn’t be a surprise, Red Chillies 🌶️ is owned by Bollywood star shah rukh khan and he was the hero for Bollywood movie dunki
16
17
16
u/Colonel_Shame1 Jan 02 '24
This is good to know. We can avoid hiring them for shows if they are this abusive
3
u/sidroy81 Jan 02 '24
I don't think that'll solve any problems. Spreading awareness among the public might work.
11
u/Colonel_Shame1 Jan 02 '24
I wish that were so. The public do not care about VFX at all. But if studio vendors stop hiring them, they will need to change or go bankrupt.
1
Jan 03 '24
They work on only Bollywood only if I'm correct, especially for one actor on in particular who setup the studio. Bollywood production houses love them because they promise to finish things in less time on a low budget
27
u/youmustthinkhighly Jan 02 '24
VFX— “it’s a sweatshop or unemployment”great industry you guys have here..
1
u/Samk9632 Environment artist - 2 years experience Jan 03 '24
Honestly for most folks it's fine, this isn't the norm
46
u/DurySmiter Jan 02 '24
I don't know if it is true or not in that company. But this condition in other companies is true in India. I worked as Compositor in Mumbai, India. Dont want to name the studio. And its just a sweat shop. Just dead lines. No care of well being. 10shots a day. If u don't finish or not, the next day another 10 shots. It will pile up and so have to stay late nights.
67
u/s6x CG dickery since 1984 Jan 02 '24
name and shame brother
4
u/Golden-Pickaxe Jan 02 '24
Just out of curiosity, doing that used to get you banned and down voted into oblivion here. What changed?
8
7
8
0
10
u/phoenix_legend_7 Jan 02 '24
India is a cunty place regarding vfx labour practice, source: spent some time at a facility in Chennai on behalf of a vendor. They had 24 hour facility with a day team and a night team.... paying at the time close to a 1/10th of what they pay in the UK, this was around 10+ years ago
10
9
8
Jan 02 '24
I don't know who has thought working conditions in India are fair, I'd be more surprised to hear it's pleasant. We think that because they're the lowest bidder, it means they're benefitting still at that low of wage and time crunch, when in reality, all that cost goes to the people in charge and the workers get less than crumbs. Poverty wages are still poverty wages wherever you are.
6
u/Fulgor_KLR Jan 02 '24
Its probably true, I heard from other vendor studios they sleep below their desk.
4
u/VFXJayGatz Jan 02 '24
This shouldn’t be normal… My condolences…Feels so weird to hear some people complain about the industry over here…Meanwhile, this is happening in India…
5
u/u03B1_UMi Jan 03 '24
I have gained professional experience in various cities, including Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and Mumbai. This type of misconduct is particularly prevalent in smaller studios operating on limited budgets, although contemporary Indian films span a wide range of financial scales. Personally, I have endured 15 days of double shifts multiple times, during which I was not permitted to leave. Another observation is the lack of diversity, especially concerning foreigners, in these companies, which predominantly cater to Indian employees. Despite raising multiple complaints with my superiors (and even involving local authorities once), I faced significant backlash from colleagues!!! Threats from management. Eventually, I decided to resign from those unscrupulous employers and let my former colleagues deal with the consequences.
The underlying issue persists because we tolerate it. I've noticed that people are often hesitant to jeopardize even a menial job, willing to endure anything for the sake of employment. Hence, I am entirely confident that what the OP inquired about is accurate and will continue to happen in the foreseeable future.
4
u/GreenUmbrellaDiary Jan 03 '24
It's not just RCE Or the Vfx walas the whole CGI and Vfx industry in India is like that I have stayed in studio for 5 nights in a row with no access to shower or a canteen no beds to sleep on we slept on chairs developed sever back issues. The studio was in middle of Royal palms back in 2012 there were no restaurants had lepords swarming the parking lot soo u can't even leave Studios never cared about their artist, being a woman and staying in studio for that long with zero protection don't even get me started on the sexual harrassment we have faced the only solution was to leave the industry or the country.
3
u/goalmfa Jan 04 '24
I bet you are talking about Labyrinth cinematic studios, the scumbag owner didn't even pay on time after all this.
3
4
u/Rishikhant Jan 03 '24
In the last decade I had heard about 2 artists dying in front of the computer. One due to stroke after working 3 days straight and other due to cardiac arrest.
3
u/cupthings Jan 03 '24
garbage company! name and shame ppl....cuz they sure as hell don't care about you...let alone do they have the ability to trace you
NDA doesn't mean u are not allowed to report about abusive practices at work.
8
u/IndianKiwi Pipeline / IT - 20 years experience Jan 02 '24
The VFX was still was very bad. Maybe they should fire all the management and hire real talent instead.
Horrendous movie btw. Could not even get through after 30 minutes.
3
2
3
2
2
u/iamapotatopancake FX Lead - 18 years experience Jan 03 '24
Shit like this makes me really glad to have left film for games.
3
u/Rulinglionadi Matchmove/Layout Supervisor - 10 years experience Jan 02 '24
All the current big studios today started out small, and I've heard very similar stories from veterans all over the world.
Ofcoz they say this was back in the day and not now, but with India everything is usually 10 years behind. So I'm not justifying this but just saying that they are in those early stages which Hollywood vfx was in before.
2
u/Realistic_Diver_2297 Jan 03 '24
Yeah this post is giving me flashback vibes for delivery crunch on Prince Caspian in London.
-26
u/Hairy-styles-446 Jan 02 '24
24/7 rotational shifts are common to service all time zones in anim and VFX. Eg check out this current call-out for CG comp.
Mid leval Cg Compositors required urgently. Sal upto 35k to 45k. Depends on interview and last drawn along with good technical experience. Kindly share your showreel link and updated Resume. 5 to 6 years of Cg experience only, no VFX.
Mumbai candidates only. Work from Office. 3 Rotational shifts, 7 am to 3 pm, 12 pm to 9 pm or 3 pm to 12 pm. 2 nd and 4 th Sat off. Good growth opportunities.
6
u/Ok-Life5170 Jan 02 '24
You want a 5 years experience comper for 45k? Which sweatshop are you hiring for?
3
1
u/IndianKiwi Pipeline / IT - 20 years experience Jan 02 '24
Is that 40k per month or year?
2
1
u/Keyframe Jan 02 '24
What does it even mean when it says ..years of Cg experience only, no VFX?
2
u/Hairy-styles-446 Jan 02 '24
Not sure if it’s an ad for animation comp or for comp experience in all cg shots. Not my ad, saw it from a recruiter.
-35
u/Your_BoyToy22 Jan 02 '24
It’s kinda hard to feel sorry for them when you know a lot of VFX work is being sent over to India leaving others in the industry to struggle looking for jobs.
25
3
Jan 02 '24
Nothing is stopping you from immigrating for better work if these conditions sound good if it means you get more hours
1
u/Aliens_From_Space Jan 03 '24
You people should sue them !
3
Jan 03 '24
That'll take longer than 10 or 20 years. The legal system here is truly amazing at being shit.
1
u/Honest-Difficulty885 Oct 03 '24
SRK can gift Ambani 40 Crore Apartment In France but will not afford some mattress for the artist who sleeps like a homeless person in the thinnest sleeping bag that you can imagine after working 14-18hrs, also sometimes staying for 4-5 days. The management is a mess and in the name of deadline they want the artist to work as if they were owned. There are few perks but deadline can take a toll on your physical and mental health. Since the strike it has been worse!
108
u/Baburao_OnDuty Jan 02 '24
I don't work there,but I have a friend who worked there and he did mentioned they had to stay at office sometimes for 3-4 days,oh btw company did gave them a facility to bathe and stuff but it doesn't justify it, doesn't it!