Entourage costs of actors has become a huge topic of discussion in recent times. Most B-town stars today travel with a massive entourage which many producers feel is unnecessary because it burdens the movie. As many industry insiders have spoken about it, in a recent interview, actor and lyricist Piyush Pandey has also shared his thoughts. He spoke about how contrasting this is with the south film industry where the work culture is fuss-free. According to him, South stars don’t carry the weight of stardom on their shoulders, unlike several actors in Hindi cinema who move around with an army of people and a dozen bodyguards—something he believes is excessive.“People live in hangups, they have a lot of tantrums. Their entourage is so long. Almost 8-9 people will come with them, they will walk with at least 12 bodyguards but why do you need these many bodyguards? You are a single person. Who is coming to kill you? I don’t mind this and it is not that it is not applicable to me. I have one assistant and one make-up artist and I don’t need anybody else after these two. What is the need for so many people, one person is to drink with you. One is to give you a drink, one is to comb your hair, one is to do your makeup. So I don’t understand the meaning behind this,” he said in an interview with Curly Tales. Recalling his experience working on ‘Tamasha’, Piyush praised Ranbir Kapoor for being remarkably humble despite his superstar status. “Ranbir ghazab hai. He doesn’t have any tantrums because he knows he’s such a big star. He has no hangups. He is my favourite actor,” he shared, adding that he has never witnessed Ranbir behaving unreasonably.This isn’t the first time the issue of extravagant entourages has been highlighted. Directors Sanjay Gupta and Anurag Kashyap have previously spoken about the same. Sanjay once mentioned a certain unnamed actor who reportedly travels with six vanity vans. Describing the setup, he said, “I know certain actors who have six makeup vans. It’s mandatory. The first van is his personal space. This is real; I’m very serious. Wahan saab nanga baithte hain. Then, next to that is saab’s other van, wahan pe saab makeup and hair karte hain. Uske baaju mein is the van jahan saab meetings karte hain.”He continued, “Hear me out. There’s a fourth van, which has his gym. Wahan saab workout karte hain. I said fine. You have to keep one thing in mind; workout van means he’ll bring his trainer, his assistant, the driver of the van, and the maintenance man of the van. That’s six people for one van. Then, makeup and hair and the stylists have their own assistants.”Anurag Kashyap echoed similar concerns, highlighting how some stars’ lifestyle demands inflate production budgets unnecessarily. Speaking to the Humans of Cinema YouTube channel, he said, “Somebody has a chef who charges Rs 2 lakh per day to make this strange healthy food,” adding, “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.”
