Movie stars: Freeloaders unlimited
Stars’ paychecks have seven zeros, yet they make producers pay for everything from pizza to personal staff salaries.
By TNN |
One dozen raw eggs, a pair of contact lenses, four coffees from Barista, chicken sandwiches from Candies, Hot & Sour Maggi ketchup and dhoklas from Patels��� supermarket. No, this isn���t a housewife���s shopping list; it���s a roster of the items demanded by a top actress before embarking on a photo shoot at a suburban Mumbai studio.
The ���sophisticated��� actress is in the crore-plus bracket, and one would imagine she could pay for her own sandwiches. However, she isn���t alone in her cheapness: ninety per cent of Bollywood actors make the producer, or whoever has hired them for the day, pay for everything from a pill to a pillow. The servile producer is uniformly viewed as a cow to be milked dry.
���There���s a strange uniformity in the thinking pattern of the stars,������ says a production executive. ���Whether it���s Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt who earn Rs 10-crore plus per film or Jaaved Jaffrey who is in the something-lakh bracket, all of them make huge demands on the producers��� purse strings.������
According to studio buzz, if you shoot with a Khan/Dutt/Kumar or Roshan, you have to cough up Rs 25,000 per eight-hour shift just for his make-up man, personal valet, driver and petrol bills. With the heroines, there���s the extra expense of a hairdresser. And then of course there���s the stars��� newest status symbol���a make-up van which comes at Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 per shift. ���Some heroines insist on two make-up vans; one serves as a changing room and the other as an office,������ says a trade source. And though actors��� fees now run into crores, the fraternity shows no inclination to pick up the bills for its additional personal expenditure.
The ���sophisticated��� actress is in the crore-plus bracket, and one would imagine she could pay for her own sandwiches. However, she isn���t alone in her cheapness: ninety per cent of Bollywood actors make the producer, or whoever has hired them for the day, pay for everything from a pill to a pillow. The servile producer is uniformly viewed as a cow to be milked dry.
���There���s a strange uniformity in the thinking pattern of the stars,������ says a production executive. ���Whether it���s Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt who earn Rs 10-crore plus per film or Jaaved Jaffrey who is in the something-lakh bracket, all of them make huge demands on the producers��� purse strings.������
According to studio buzz, if you shoot with a Khan/Dutt/Kumar or Roshan, you have to cough up Rs 25,000 per eight-hour shift just for his make-up man, personal valet, driver and petrol bills. With the heroines, there���s the extra expense of a hairdresser. And then of course there���s the stars��� newest status symbol���a make-up van which comes at Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 per shift. ���Some heroines insist on two make-up vans; one serves as a changing room and the other as an office,������ says a trade source. And though actors��� fees now run into crores, the fraternity shows no inclination to pick up the bills for its additional personal expenditure.
A decade ago, when Bollywood had hit a recession, there was a ruling from the various producers��� associations that actors would have to pay their personal staff and not charge producers for vanities like make-up trailers. But ever since corporates have begun bankrolling film production , there has been a huge hike even in staff payments . ���It���s a fact that the cost of production has shot up tremendously,������ says Supran Sen from the Film Producers ��� Guild. The printed rate card of the Cine Costume and Make-Up Artistes Association puts the wages of makeup men and hairdressers at Rs 1,100 per day.
A committee member says that artistes often use personal make-up men whose wage starts at Rs 1,450. A top production executive, however, tells a different story. ���Many of the top actors��� make-up men charge Rs 15,000 per shift���10 times more than the association rate,������ he says. ���Since an actor���s personal staff charges in accordance with its master���s current box-office status, a producer is hardly in a position to complain.������ An official from the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) confirms that IMPPA and the Cine Costume & Make Up Artistes��� Association take a joint decision on the rates of makeup men, hairdressers, valets and drivers. ���If a producer is being overcharged , he can put up the matter before the Federation,������ he says.
That���s not something one expects , since producers themselves, imprisoned by the star system, are guilty of bending backwards to accomodate them. Senior actor Raj Babbar had once remarked, ���We go to a film set expecting to be treated like sons. We���re happy to eat unit food and don���t need to be fussed over. But producers turn us into damaads (sons-in-law ), and are eager to pander to our every whim.������
Not every star is cheap, though. A yesteryear producer reveals that actors like Danny Denzongpa, Amjad Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Mehra never charged a producer for anything additional: indeed, Kapoor is once said to have slapped his valet, Tukaram, for asking a producer for money to buy the cigarettes his master had asked for, since the latter was asleep. ���There were also actors like Raaj Kumar who wore their personal accessories on screen but never demanded compensation payment for this,������ remembers a lady executive producer.
During an outdoor stint, a scribe overheard actor Mohnish Bahl telling his director that he would rather quit a film than have him pay for his wife and daughter���s stay in Jodhpur. ���I���ve called them so these expenses will be borne by me,������ said Bahl.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bahl, of course, is the exception to the rule; and perhaps needs to do some serious re-thinking . Because even veteran superstars travel with family, dogs, servants, health trainers and hangers-on at the expense of the producer; who not only physically picks up their bags but even pays for the excess baggage.Start a SIP with as low as ₹500 with ET Money App!
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
