A while ago, Sudhir Mishra took to social media to express his concern over the increased number of people on a film set, implying that entourage is a menace. He also drew attention to how ‘the unit size of a modestly-budgeted film comprises about 180 people’. Of late, the conversation surrounding an actor’s entourage and rising entourage costs has gained momentum with the likes of Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Khan and Gulshan Devaiah stating how the issue has become rampant.
Now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Mishra expresses his discontent over ‘too many unnecessary people on a set’ – some of who aren’t even a part of a star’s entourage. “It’s not like only actors bring in their entourage. Even the light team has so many people these days. We use faster lenses to make our job easier but such technology is also increasing the number of people on a set. You may have only four actors who need to shoot for a scene on a given day but there are 50 other people with them,” he rues.
The maker, who’s awaiting the release of SonyLIV’s Tanaav 2, adds, “How to direct in a situation like that? I’ve had lots of fights over this. Any director deserves at least half an hour with his actors. A set, today, seems to belong to everyone else but the director. That’s a big problem. Necessary entourage is fine. If there’s a young female actor on an outdoor shoot and she says that she needs her mother, friend or security, that amounts to necessity.”
Dishing out a solution, the Chameli and Serious Men director says, “I never understood the idea of make-up. In cinema, make-up isn’t prettification. It’s sometimes used to make someone look ugly and tough. I think there should be one director of make-up who looks over every actor much like the director of photography.”
The presence of too many vanity vans outside a set also shoots up the production cost. “Vans offer security. It also provides a space to women actors to change. But there are just too many vans! And that leads to money being spent on too many things. And I’m not talking about big films here. I’m specifically talking about independent or limited-budget films. In these cases, money doesn’t go to places where it shows onscreen. As a result, directors get pretty pissed off,” Mishra states.
According to him, ‘massive entourage’ is a new-age issue and comparing the scenario to that of his initial years in showbiz, Mishra remarks, “Back in the day, the biggest actors had one or two staff members. These days, sometimes, an actor has a 20-member entourage, all of who comes to the set. Big films have a lot of money involved and when a star brings their entourage, it leads to employment opportunities for them. And if productions are paying, who am I to say anything? But all I’m saying is that some films can afford it and some can’t.”
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