Opinion | Between Promise And Precarity: The Uneven Reality Of India’s Gig Economy |
Released in 2023, Zwigato offers a quiet yet powerful window into the everyday realities of India’s gig workers. With Kapil Sharma stepping away from comedy to play a delivery worker, the film captures the invisible struggles that lie behind app notifications and doorstep deliveries.
One particularly unsettling episode reveals just how vulnerable gig workers are to an unforgiving system: a false complaint is filed against his character, and in an instant, he is removed from his work. There is no inquiry, no opportunity to explain—only retribution. As Sharma’s income disappears, leaving him unable to manage even basic household expenses, his struggle begins.
Through moments like these, Zwigato transcends storytelling to become a commentary on the absence of job security, dignity, and social protection in the gig economy, reminding readers that behind every quick delivery lies a life teetering in search of some balance.
The film’s message feels especially poignant when viewed in light of real-life events. Switch to 2021, during the brutal second wave of Covid-19. While most people remained indoors, avoiding all contact, delivery workers were on the streets, risking their lives to deliver food and essentials to households. In the same year, a Bengaluru-based model accused a Zomato delivery partner of assault, leading to his arrest and temporary suspension from the platform before he was later released on bail. The timing itself added a layer of irony. At a moment when gig workers were being hailed as essential lifelines, a single allegation was enough to upend a worker’s livelihood.
The quiet desperation portrayed in Zwigato is no longer confined to the cinema; it has found expression on the streets as well. On New Year’s Eve, thousands of gig workers across the country went on strike, calling for better pay, safer working conditions, and basic dignity at work. But the very system they were protesting against diluted their collective voice. The New Year rush, coupled with a lack of organisation among gig workers, meant that the strike’s impact was visible only in pockets, even as discontent simmered widely beneath the surface.
At the heart of their protest lies a stark contradiction. Behind the glossy........