Alia Bhatt’s daughter Raha gets her own vanity van on set; it’s like a ‘temple’, reveals Mahesh Bhatt: ‘New-age heroines go to work, they’re parenting’

Women actors would fall off the radar after marriage and kids till a few decades back in the Hindi film industry. However, the industry has seen a sea change over the years with most of the top female stars balancing work and life. Of late, there has been a debate about Deepika Padukone demanding fixed working hours on Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s upcoming film. After they could not agree to this, Deepika exited the film.

Also read – As star fees, entourage costs skyrocket, Hindi film industry technicians, writers and actors ‘bleed’: Bollywood’s horror show

In recent years, a debate has also erupted about the growing demands of A-list stars. Many, including Farah Khan and Anurag Kashyap, have spoken about how difficult it is to mount projects because of increasing budgets, the majority of which are spent on the staff and requirements of stars. In a recent interview with Cyrus Broacha, director Sanjay Gupta told a story about a Bollywood star who was quietly fired from a South Indian movie for showing up to set with six vanity vans, with the expectation that the producer would pay for it.

Sanjay Gupta said, “I’ll tell you something very funny. This particular actor signed a film down south. He went for the shoot, and they went to the location, which is a studio. And suddenly, the producer finds that there are these six vans from Bombay, and he’s like, ‘Boss, I didn’t hire six actors’.” He said that the producer was furious, and added, “They packed up that day, and they told the actor, ‘Sir, next three days there is a problem with the location; you return to Mumbai and we’ll tell you when to come back’. The minute that actor got on the flight, he called all the drivers and said ‘f**k off’. They scrapped the film! The producer scrapped the film. He said, ‘We don’t do this. Inform us. Ask us. You can’t just bring six vans and send a bill of Rs 18 lakh’.”

Praising Amitabh Bachchan for still operating with a staff of two, Sanjay Gupta also revealed that a certain star couple in Bollywood actually demands for a separate set of vans even when they work on the same project. He said, “I know certain actors who have six makeup vans. It’s mandatory. The first van is his personal space. This is real; I’m very serious. Wahan saab nanga baithte hain (Sir sits naked in that van). Then, next to that is saab’s other van, wahan pe saab makeup and hair karte hain (There, sir has his makeup and hair done). Uske baaju mein is the van jahan saab meetings karte hain (In the van next to that, sir has his meetings). Hear me out. There’s a fourth van, which has his gym. Wahan saab workout karte hain (Sir works out there). I said fine. You have to keep one thing in mind; workout van means he’ll bring his trainer, his assistant, the driver of the van, and the maintainance man of the van. That’s six people for one van. Then, makeup and hair and the stylists have their own assistants.”

The Indian Express reported extensively on the rising costs of Bollywood entourages. In the past, Anurag Kashyap revealed that certain stars have meals driven to set from restaurants that are hours away. More recently, it was reported that Deepika Padukone removed herself from the sequel to Prabhas’ Kalki, after her demands were allegedly turned down.