‘Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar have small entourages’: Taapsee Pannu asks why producers give work to ‘delusional’ stars with massive teams

She added, “Firstly, it is not the case with every star. I have worked with the industry’s two biggest stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan also for that matter, but when I was working with Shah Rukh sir there aren’t as many people around him. It’s a myth that all actors have huge entourage.”

Taapsee then put the onus on producers and shared that they should not complain on camera when they are the ones paying massive amounts to these actors and their teams. “Yes, some actors do have huge entourages, but my question is that the people who are giving these interviews and producers who have a problem with that, they are the ones who are actually giving work to those stars and actors who have this kind of entourage. These actors are called delusional for demanding so much in this economy, but then these producers are only giving them this. Either you change it or don’t complain about it. From the outside, what do I believe? What they are saying in interviews or what they are doing in real life.”

Earlier, while speaking to Janice Sequeira, Anurag Kashyap had shared an instance of how much a star’s personal chef costs. He said, “Somebody has a chef who charges Rs 2 lakh per day to make this strange healthy food. Jo dekh ke lagta tha ye khana hai? Yeh to bird feed hai (I wonder, ‘Is this food or birdfeed’)?”

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He also spoke to Humans of Cinema and said, “A lot of money that is spent doesn’t go into making the film. It goes into the paraphernalia; it goes into the entourage. You’re shooting in the middle of a jungle, but one car will be sent to the city three hours away specifically to get you that five-star burger you want. You don’t get into the process of it.”

Filmmaker Karan Johar had also spoken about the issue earlier. Speaking on Game Changers, he shared how producers have to bear the exorbitant cost of an actor’s hair and makeup team. “I can’t tell you the cost they charge for hair and makeup. I would like Roohi and Yash to become hair and makeup artists because they are making more money than a lot of other people,” he said, adding, “My problem is with actors who are getting mammoth payments and still expect the producers to pay for their basic needs. Show some grace. It’s strange to me when these small issues become points of contention. I don’t understand why some actors travel with six to eight people in their entourage.”