Veteran filmmaker KC Bokadia has entered the Hindi film entourage-cost debate with a blunt appeal: actors and crew should stop loading personal expenses onto producers.
In an interview with ANI, Bokadia praised several senior stars for an older working practice—keeping their teams on their own payroll—and contrasted it with what he described as today’s escalating demands for vanity vans, suites, and high day rates.
Stars Who Kept Their Own Staff
Bokadia said Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Rajinikanth never expected producers to pay the salaries of their personal staff. He urged younger actors to follow that lead. “At least reach their level and show their level of grace,” he said.
He framed the issue as a matter of professional discipline as much as money: a big star, in his account, carried the cost of the people around them rather than making it a line item for the production.
Jackie Shroff’s Suite Was Not the Point
Bokadia recalled an incident from a Chennai shoot—then Madras—when he realised Jackie Shroff had been given a double room instead of a suite and stepped in. Shroff, he said, was not concerned about the accommodation and did not make an issue of it.
That, Bokadia said, is the opposite of what some actors demand today, including four to ten vanity vans for different purposes, some with gym facilities.
The Arithmetic That Worries Him
- Even someone who makes tea and a manager are said to charge ₹1.5 lakh a day.
- Bokadia said crew members quote ₹1–2 lakh for a day’s shoot.
- He claimed nobody charges less than ₹50,000 a day now.
He warned that such costs could make film production increasingly difficult. “Please have some mercy on the producer,” he said.
Why This Matters
For Hindi cinema, the entourage line sits between on-screen value and back-end pressure. When a film’s budget is consumed by hospitality, transport, and staff salaries rather than craft and marketing, the producer’s margin thins before a single ticket is sold. Bokadia is making an older argument for a leaner set, one that resonates because it comes from a filmmaker who worked with Bachchan, Dharmendra, Rajinikanth, and Jeetendra across the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
His filmography—Aaj Ka Arjun, Phool Bane Angaray, Tyagi, Insaniyat Ke Devta, Shaktiman, Khuda Kasam, Lal Baadshah, and Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam—places him in the commercial mainstream that now faces these very budget conversations.
Source: Gujarat Samachar
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