Javed Akhtar slams high entourage costs in Bollywood, weighs in on starry tantrums: 'Today's stars have 19 people for..'

The high entourage cost of actors in Bollywood has been a topic of debate for a long time. Javed Akhtar, the legendary writer who made Amitabh Bachchan star, recently weighed in on the debate and slammed the stars and their tantrums. 

During his appearance on Chill Sesh, a comedy show by comedian Sapan Verma, Javed Akhtar shared his experience of witnessing starry tantrums on the film sets. He compared today's situation with older times and revealed that he hears stories about how stars have three vanity vans on the sets these days.

He added that stars these days have a staff of 18-19 people and need one vanity for the gym, and two more vans for preparing food and eating food. He further quipped, "Unka woh aadmi jo baal thik karta rehta hai, unka woh 75,000 per day...arey yaar, humein maloom hota toh hum wahi kaam seekhte (They have a hairstylist who charge Rs 75,000 per day. If I had known about the exorbitant fee that stars pay, I would have learned hairstylist's skills)."  

Comparing today's situation with older times, the screenwriter said that he didn't experience such incidents back then. He recalled that earlier stars were "irregular and indiscipline" and that most of them would arrive late on the sets. However, there wasn't enough money to enjoy such facilities.

Javed Akhtar was recently featured in a documentary mini-series, Angry Young Men along with Salim Khan. It explored the lives of the famous screenwriter-duo. Helmed by Namrata Rao, the series is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.

 Salim-Javed was the most successful writer duo in Bollywood, earning salaries even more than the stars. They made Amitabh Bachchan a superstar with movies like Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewaar, and more and established his image as an angry young man. The writer duo, however, separated after a while and now, Javed Akhtar is the highest-paid lyricist in India. 

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