Rohit Shetty joins in the debate of entourage costs of stars after Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon & Farah Khan

Even though we have reached the middle of the year 2024, there have been many films which have got released so far. While some have managed to hit the bull’s eye at the box office, there have been others, who have not been able to set the box office on fire. At the same time, there are many films which are waiting in the wings to be released in the due course of time. While some of these films have been earmarked strictly for OTT platforms, there are others who will be seeing a theatrical release.

Speaking about the release of films, there has been one topic which has now become the talk of the town, since the last few months. For the unversed, we are referring to the entourage costs of stars. The last few months have seen many stars speaking about the said topic. For all those who missed it, here’s what they said.

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To begin with, there is Rohit Shetty, the filmmaker whose middle name is ‘superhit’. In an interview with News18 Showsha, he said that, with him, it was totally different. To drive home his point, he said that, it’s not just the actors (who should be blamed or be held responsible), but also the cost of travelling, ticketing and hotels have gone up.

On the other hand, there’s the superstar of the season Kartik Aaryan who, in an interview with News 18 Showsha had said that, an actor’s fee gets fixed as per each film’s ‘revenue model’. He also revealed that he had decided to let go of his fee while working in the action comedy Shehzada, because the film was facing a financial crunch. That also (kind of) explains the reason why he was given the credit as a producer in the film which had Kriti Sanon as the leading lady.

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There was the ace choreographer turned director Farah Khan, who too, voiced her opinion on the said topic. In an interview with Twin Encounter, Farah Khan said the change she would like to bring about was that the entourage cost had become too much. She drove home her point by stating a generic example of an actress coming with nine people and an actor coming with eight people, which, she termed, was a waste of resources. It is this cost that, she wanted to controlled a bit as “woh producers pe bohot bhaari padta hai”.

There was also the actress cum entrepreneur Kriti Sanon, who said during an interview with Film Companion that the ‘hair, make up and costume were extremely important and sometimes even they end up having their assistants because of the kind of work that there is’!

One of the earliest celebs to have spoken about the said topic was the film maker Anurag Kashyap, who, in an interview with Janice Sequeira went onto recall the most outrageous demands by celebrities today. He was simply appalled when he heard the cost of an actor’s chef. He recalled, ‘The most ridiculous demand is that there's some chef who charges Rs. 2 lakh per day to make food that looks like… ye khana hai ya birdfeed. Itna chhota sa aata tha. Health ka tha thoda problem. Main sirf yehi khata hu”!, said the filmmaker in the interview!

In no time, there was the celebrated celebrity make-up artist Shaan Muttathil, who hit back at the filmmaker during a Phitte Muh podcast. Shaan minced no words when it came to slamming Anuurag Kashyap. He said that, he (Anurag) was just jealous of the kind of money makeup artists and other team members of the entourage earn.

There was also Gulshan Devaiah, who came in support of Anurag Kashyap on the said topic. In an interview with Showsha, the actor said that maybe Anurag in his experience had seen some actors like that. He also wondered as to why were the producers suddenly complaining.

Giving his opinion was also the veteran actor Gulshan Grover, who, in an interview with Hindustan Times, said that, “Any expenses associated with a particular star are calculated by the producer before bringing them on board. Producers are just unnecessarily highlighting this issue now. How can you compare the current scenario to the past?”

There was the most celebrated filmmaker Karan Johar, who was in a media interaction recently (during his film Kill’s trailer launch), that, a lot of actors need a reality check when it comes to quoting their market price and that they (actors) could take all the entourage they want, that was not the problem. He added that, while it was adding to our costs, the real issue was the mothership cost!

Support for Karan Johar came in the form of his fellow filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who gave his opinion on the topic (whilst lending his support to Karan Johar) on social media. He had tweeted, ‘Karan Johar is not wrong in what he says about star fees. Tomorrow’s box office will prove him right’.

While the topic seems to be a never-ending one, what remains to be seen is that, who will be proved right at the end of the day!

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