Movie stars used to travel light – mom/sis, make-up and hair guy. But now the bigger the star, the bigger the support team that the producer has to shell out for
Mohini Chaudhuri (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 7, 2018)

It’s safe to say that 2017 was an underwhelming year for Bollywood. It will possibly be remembered as the year of bans, threats and grave financial ruin. With the exception of the tornado that was Baahubali: The Conclusion and a few others, there was hardly any Friday cheer. According to trade website boxofficeindia.com, footfalls for Hindi cinema dropped from 34 crore in 2013 to 27.25 crore last year. This included a Rs 2.5-crore estimate for Tiger Zinda Hai and Rs 5 crore for Baahubali — take these away, and it stands at a worrying Rs 22.25 crore. While filmmakers are mulling ways to rein in losses, there’s one giant expense that people shy away from addressing — the celebrity entourage.

For the uninitiated, the posse of helpers you see fussing over a star at all times is what makes a celebrity entourage. They’re like the background dancers to the main star. Or as one movie producer describes them, ‘The guys who keep them delusional’. The bigger the star, the more bloated the entourage. A top actor recently said there are 25 people ‘who run her’. And as stars get richer, so do the entourages. In fact, there’s a running joke that soon they’ll be worth more than the actor. Rumour has it that Jacqueline Fernandez’s hairstylist may have earned more than her on the 2014 film Kick.

“I often wonder if I should quit my job and become a hairdresser or driver to an actor. They take home more than what corporate executives get,” rues a senior film producer who didn’t want to be named. If you examine a movie budget, the overhead on entourage costs is becoming obscenely heavy. For a couple of hours in a day, an actor’s team slaps a bill of anything upwards of Rs 1 lakh. Remember, this is just for a day. A film shoot typically goes on for two months, sometimes more. And then there are three weeks of promotions before the release. So you do the math.

A Growing Family
Back in the day, a movie star travelled light. Every actress had a long-time hair and make-up assistant and their moms for company. Today there’s a make-up and hair person, manager, stylist, spot boy, bodyguard and driver. Gym trainers and nutritionists have also joined the gang. And none of them come cheap. “A stylist today bills me Rs 45,000 per look during promotions. So if an actor has changed his T-shirt thrice in a day, I have to pay over a lakh. Can you imagine how much we’re paying for someone who isn’t even directly contributing to the film,” says the perplexed marketing head of a production house. There are exceptions to this rule. Aamir Khan does not bill his producers for his support staff.

Tales of celebrity entourages range from bizarre to amusing. Recently a top male actor’s driver demanded Rs 10,000 to take him from his home in Juhu to a hotel a few buildings down the road. Another’s spot boy wanted Rs 10,000 to accompany the actor on a 2-hour shoot where his presence wasn’t even required. Managers now expect to be flown only business class. And the entourage universe has its own little star system. So the hairstylist of an A-list actress will get paid a lot more than one of a newer actress. But when the newer actress scores a few hits, her hairstylist wants a raise too.

“In my opinion, the personal staff behaves more important than the actor,” says Kulmeet Makkar, CEO of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India. “We have told the actors in the past that we can’t negotiate with them directly because they will ask for unreasonable prices. So now the execution needs to be done by the actors. They need to lead by example,” he adds.

“Box office collections are down 4% right now. Of the films released last year, 90% didn’t even earn money. And then you have actors who make us pay for the guy who serves him chai, holds an umbrella over their heads and drives them to the set. This really adds to the burden,” explains the marketing head. An obvious question here is, how hard is it to just say no? Industry folks claim that’s not really an option as no one wants to risk upsetting the star of the movie. There’s way too much riding on them. That’s also why no one wanted to be officially quoted on this story.

Not Without My Team
Stars and their teams share a confusing relationship. Actors love them, trust them, and won’t work without them, but they don’t want to pay for them. Back in 2012, producer Mukesh Bhatt, who was then president of Film & Television Producers Guild of India, made personal visits to leading stars, requesting them to pay for their own teams. “I told them, you’re already taking a fee of Rs 20 crore. Make that 21 if you like, but save us the humiliation of paying a person who we know is not worth that money just because he’s your driver,” says Bhatt. The meetings went well. “They were very gracious, and immediately agreed,” he recalls.

Papers were signed and hands were shaken, but nothing came of the diktat. “I heard that two producers flouted it and that’s why it went out of the window. They are too petrified to anger a star,” says Bhatt.

The manager of a successful actor says she’s well aware of the contempt with which producers view her tribe. “I do feel bad when I see actors making producers pay for their fitness trainers and drivers. But the point is that somebody has got paid that kind of money by the producer and that’s why everybody is asking. And if you pay one star, then you’ll have to pay everyone. It’s a grave that producers have dug for themselves and now they must lie in it.”

Courtesy filmcompanion.in