'Severely underpaid': Kal Ho Naa Ho set designer received '$75 a day,' calls it 'worst job of my life'

Kal Ho Naa Ho, a 2003 cult classic featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan, was re-released by Dharma Productions in November last year. The romantic comedy is back in the spotlight, this time for all the wrong reasons. A US-based content creator has claimed that she was associated as a set designer on the project, which she called the ‘worst job of my life’.

In a video on Instagram, Ash Cantley alleged that she was ‘severely underpaid’ for her work, and her overall experience turned out to be ‘so bad’ that she eventually ended up switching careers.

According to her IMDb page, she was part of the Art Department in Kal Ho Naa Hoand was credited as ‘Ashley Vuckovich’. She has also been associated with projects like Why This Is My Dog, The Meredith Vieira Show, among others.

'I got paid $75 a day'

Cantley, famous for her Talk Pop To Me social media show that talks about pop culture and celebrity gossip, said she has been working as a TV producer and a celebrity executive for around two decades.

She shared that she was recently at the TikTok Creator Summit in New York City, where she became friends with another creator who loved Bollywood films.

When Cantley told the person that she had worked in a Bollywood movie long ago, he got curious to know more about it.

"...let me go to my IMDb because I never can remember. And a side note, for the longest time, 15 years or so, I am like, why doesn't my IMDb ever update? Why is it always saying I am known for this random Indian film I did so long ago?" she said.

She then told the person that the film was Nikhil Advani-directed Kal Ho Naa Ho.

"He told me, 'Are you freaking kidding me?' It's like the Titanic of US films. I was like, 'What? Really?'... I had such a bad experience with that film that I probably tried to block it out of my mind," she recalled.

Sharing her work experience, Cantley stated that she was paid ‘$75 a day,’ which required her to remain present for ‘12 to 17 hours’ a day.

“I was a set designer, which means I spent most of my days redesigning, and like inch by inch, this diner that was a main part of the film, I guess. It was a diner that had been like abandoned and had like so much filth on it that they rented it out for this film,” she added.

Cantley later stated that it was the "worst film of my life."

As part of her work, she apparently had to drive a "cube truck around New York City to get the props for the film."

“I mean, I was severely underpaid. It was the worst job of my life. I ended up going into celebrity producing and booking because I was like. No set designer. I'll never do that again,” she said.

The person then advised Cantley to get Advani to pay her back, since "he made so much money on that film."

"I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' Like, am I famous and I don't know it?" she concluded.

Sharing the video on Instagram, Cantley wrote in the caption, "I didn’t even realise I worked on one of the biggest Bollywood films ever until this weekend".

Netizens react

In the comments section of the post, several users shared their thoughts on the matter.

"In Mumbai, that's how they make films. You'll run away within a week," one person wrote.

Another said that she did an ‘absolutely amazing job’ as the film was ‘incredible and the scenes in that shop were great’.

A third person wrote, "You could have said no to the job if you were unhappy with the pay or if there were so many issues."