In an era when filmmaking budgets are ballooning beyond imagination, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has voiced his frustration over what he calls the “unnecessary expenditure” that has gripped the film industry.
Speaking on the YouTube show Game Changers, the Gangs of Wasseypur director dissected how the growing entourage culture and layers of management around actors have made filmmaking far more expensive and creatively stifling.
“Every Actor Has Their Own Make-Up Artist Now”
Anurag began by highlighting how production costs have multiplied due to individual vanity setups for every actor, “Make-up is a department in a film, but now every individual actor has their own make-up artist,” he said. “In my film Nishaanchi, one make-up artist with two assistants did the make-up for the entire team.”
He contrasted those modest days with today’s inflated demands, “Now, every actor comes with their own make-up person, hairstylist, PR, and social media manager. It adds up. Earlier, actors would share one vanity van — in Wasseypur, everyone used to sit outside on chairs. Now one actor has three vans: one for meetings, one for rest, and one for assistants.”
“Seven Managers Told Me I Couldn’t Text the Actor”
Recounting a particularly frustrating experience, Kashyap revealed how bureaucracy has begun to replace collaboration, “Once, I messaged an actor directly for a language workshop,” he said. “The actor didn’t reply — instead, seven of his managers came to meet me. They said, ‘How can you message the actor like this?’ There were seven people deciding everything.”
The filmmaker said the incident left him so disillusioned that he decided to walk away, “I left the film. I had written the script, but I gifted it to them. I can’t take his name — he’s a big actor,” he added.
“Some Actors’ Chefs Charge ₹2 Lakh a Day”
This isn’t the first time the Manmarziyaan director has spoken about how inflated celebrity demands are driving up production costs. In a previous chat with Janice Sequeira, Kashyap recalled being shocked by the lifestyle expenses some actors bring to the set, “Somebody had a chef who charged ₹2 lakh per day to make this strange healthy food,” he said, laughing. “Itna chhota sa aata tha (The portion was so tiny). I used to wonder — is this food or bird feed?”
“We’ve Forgotten Simplicity”
For Kashyap, the problem goes beyond money — it’s about mindset. The filmmaker believes the industry has drifted away from authenticity and teamwork in pursuit of image and excess.
“Earlier, we all worked together like a unit,” he explained. “Now it’s about comfort, control, and isolation. Filmmaking has become less about art and more about logistics.”
Even as Bollywood continues to evolve, Kashyap’s words strike a nerve — a reminder that somewhere between luxury and legacy, cinema may have lost its simplicity.
