Do Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar travel with huge entourages? Taapsee Pannu shares her experience

Actor Taapsee Pannu was recently seen in Assi, directed by Anubhav Sinha. While the film received mixed reactions from both audiences and critics, Taapsee’s performance drew praise. Around the same time, the actress also addressed an ongoing debate in the Hindi film industry, the rising costs of actors’ entourages. For some time now, discussions within Bollywood have centred on whether stars travel with large teams that add significantly to production expenses.

Taapsee Pannu reacts to rising cost of entourage

In a recent conversation with Bollywood Hungama, Taapsee shared her perspective on the issue. She said she had come across interviews where several producers complained about the additional costs that come with hiring big stars. According to her, these producers often claim that actors bring multiple staff members with them to film sets, increasing the overall budget.

Taapsee explained that the topic has become a heated discussion in the industry. Producers, she said, frequently mention that certain actors are accompanied by four or five people wherever they go, and that the expenses related to these teams add to the financial pressure on film projects.



However, the actress believes that this perception does not apply to everyone. Drawing from her own experience, Taapsee said she has worked with some of the biggest names in Bollywood and did not always see such large entourages around them. She mentioned that during her projects with stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, she did not notice an unusually large number of people constantly accompanying them.

"I have worked with the industry’s biggest stars, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan, also for that matter, but when I was working with Shah Rukh sir there weren’t as many people around him. It’s a myth that all actors have a huge entourage."

The actress suggested that the idea that every major star travels with a massive team may be exaggerated. At the same time, Taapsee acknowledged that some actors do travel with larger teams. But she also pointed out that producers themselves play a role in sustaining the system. According to her, it seems contradictory when producers publicly criticise the rising costs of entourages while continuing to hire the same actors under those conditions.


The actress questioned why the issue is repeatedly raised in interviews if the industry is still willing to work with stars who come with additional requirements. In her opinion, if producers truly believe the costs are high, they should either change the way they operate or stop complaining about it.

The debate around entourage expenses has been widely discussed across the film industry in recent years. Filmmakers such as Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Shoojit Sircar have spoken about rising production costs. Actors including Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, John Abraham and Jackie Shroff have also weighed in on the conversation.