Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma slams actors raising entourage costs amid flops: ‘Actors aren’t valued so much that public comes to see them’

Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma said that only a few actors in Bollywood have the "value and pull" to attract audiences to theatres now, a stark contrast to the past when Hindi movie tickets would sell out a week in advance.

By: Entertainment Desk

Kochi | July 31, 2024 12:53 PM IST

3 min read

Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma said that only a few actors in Bollywood have the "value and pull" to attract audiences to theatres now, a stark contrast to the past when Hindi movie tickets would sell out a week in advance.

Director Anil Sharma delivered one of Bollywood's biggest blockbusters of 2023, the Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2. (Image: Anil/Instagram)

As Bollywood faces one of the toughest periods in its history, with most films released this year so far becoming box office failures, including those that were highly anticipated and starred superstars, the issue of skyrocketing star fees and entourage costs has come under scrutiny. Even filmmaker Karan Johar, the owner of Dharma Productions, one of the biggest production houses in the country, recently remarked that the excessive fees charged by movie stars are damaging the industry’s financial health.

Now, director Anil Sharma, who delivered one of Bollywood’s biggest blockbusters of 2023 — the Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 — has joined the conversation, criticising actors who continue to raise their entourage costs despite not having delivered any recent hits. “Actors have the audacity to increase their entourage costs at a time when their films aren’t even working in theatres. Actors ki itni value hi nahi reh gayi ab ki public unko dekhne aaye (Actors are no longer valued so much that the public comes to see them),” he said during a chat with Hindustan Times.

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Sharma noted that only a few actors in the industry still have the “value and pull” to attract audiences to theatres, a stark contrast to the past when Hindi movie tickets would sell out a week in advance. “The public is not coming to see you in theatres. OTT par aapko majboori mein dekhti hain, woh bhi 25 mein se 2 films dekh li toh dekh li (They watch you on OTT out of compulsion and that too, catch just two out of 25 films). You don’t even know if your film is a flop or a hit. You put a mark on it on your own and live in your own world,” he pointed out.

Criticising the new generation of actors for their perceived obsession with social media, Sharma said, “Either they are earning from Instagram or advertising, cinema se unko kuch nahi mil raha kyunki unko public dekhne hi nahi aarahi (they are not getting anything from cinema because the public is not coming to watch them).”

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He further pointed out that most contemporary directors, writers, and actors “haven’t seen the world beyond Versova and Bandra,” indicating that such people don’t know what kind of content resonates with the larger population and only understand what works for the urban crowd and on OTT platforms.

The filmmaker added that the overexposure of stars on public platforms and social media has negatively impacted the business, as audiences are tired of seeing them constantly. “If the content is good and the actor is also at par, then the film can even be a blockbuster. Right now, there is neither content nor hero, bas kharche mil rahe hain inke aur kuch nahi,” he added.

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