Varun Dhawan weighs in on actors’ entourage cost affecting film budgets, says ‘it is easy to blame us’: ‘All the muck is thrown on the actors’

He added, “I have four people in my entourage. I never get my managers on set, because my father had made this rule that no managers will come on set. On his set, I never took managers, so I can’t do it on others also.”

Sharing his perspective, Maniesh Paul said the real problem begins with how production houses handle actors. “The entourage issue starts when production houses differentiate and get selective. This somewhere also starts the problems between the actors.”

Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari director Shashank Khaitaan chimed in “This entourage issue is ever evolving. There was a time when it was lesser. As we are understanding the budgets and recoveries of movies better, everyone is cognizant of the fact that they need to change. They are not so bull-headed that when their films are not working, they ask for so many people to travel with them. They ensure that the film is made on a specific budget and the producers have a fair chance to recover it. We make sure that the money spent is visible on screen. But decisions change from film to film.”

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Dharma Productions CEO Apoorva Mehta, meanwhile, highlighted the cast’s sense of responsibility. He said, “These guys have been extraordinary. Varun has called me at times asking why were we spending so much money on a song, or why was the set so grand. They all treat this as family.”

Varun Dhawan added, “It is very important that we put producers first now. This is quite clear in the current landscape with OTT and satellite prices fluctuating. Producers are the ones with the biggest risk. It is like going back to how people used to make films. Hopefully, people won’t have to go to the extremes seen in the past, those times had their own horror stories as well. In my childhood, I have seen friends lose houses. People need to make the film together.”

When Janhvi was asked about the debate over entourage costs, the film’s team joked that she has a personal team of nine. Varun said, “Boneyji had said in an interview that Janhvi pays for her own vanity, and he even trolled her.” Janhvi replied, “Varun has been so over cognizant of all the expenses. Before every shot, Varun would remind each one of us how much the set cost, so we would dance in that pressure too.”

Varun Dhawan also shared that the sense of treating every banner like family should work both ways. He further pointed out that actors are often the ones blamed when films don’t succeed. “If I start to consider all production houses like my own, then all producers also need to behave as family members. That doesn’t happen. We can keep blaming actors. Stories and blind items come out, we get trolled. All the muck is thrown on the actors. We need good producers also. They should foster a collaborative, family-like atmosphere on set.. If an actor still wants to be arrogant, don’t work with them,” Varun added.

Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari producer Karan Johar was conspicuous by his absence at the event. Sharing the reason for the same, Varun said, “You have been seeing Karan Johar at events, weddings, and parties, so we decided to give him a break today. But the truth is that he has taken a decision that hence forth he won’t attend any of his film launches because he doesnt want to get all the limelight. He feels when he comes poora media unke peeche pad jaata hai. But if he comes for any other film launch, then make it a controversy.”

Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari releases in theaters on October 2.