Abhishek Banerjee Says A Star’s Bodyguard Makes More Than A Supporting Actor: 'Good Actors Get Peanuts'

High budgets and the unregulated demands of top stars have been making headlines as costly Hindi films flop at the box office. Abhishek Banerjee, known for Stree, Bhediya, Dream Girl, Pataal Lok, and Mirzapur, recently shared his views on this. Despite his decade-long career, he said that supporting actors sometimes earn less than a star’s bodyguard.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Abhishek discussed rising film budgets, often due to stars’ high fees. He said, “That’s completely a star thing, one can’t blame actors for that. The producers have to decide.” The actor mentioned that he saw unreasonable demands from stars even during his time as a casting director. He said, “I have been casting for movies and shows for many years now. So many unnecessary demands are made by certain stars. What happens because of that is actors ko paise nahi milte.”

“I would be told by makers, ‘Kam paise mein cast karo.’ I don’t know if the stars know this reality or not. Sometimes good actors get peanuts for a show or a film. Star value of course gets people to the theatres and buy tickets, but at the same time, an actor also adds same value to a story, one cannot neglect that. One can’t pay a star’s bodyguard more than an actor’s daily wage,” he further added.

In the same interview, Abhishek also remembered a time when, as a casting director, he faced pressure from production houses who said, “Hamare paas budget itna hi hai lekin achha actor chahiye (We have a limited budget but need a good actor.” He found the situation shocking).”

An actor recently told indianexpress.com that in many films, most of the budget is spent on the star and their entourage. As a result, when it comes to other expenses, they start cutting costs. “Most of the film’s budget goes to the star, then the entourage fees. So, by the time they come to others, they start cost cutting. As a result of that, you will either get a good talent to work for lesser pay-leading them to be demotivated right from the start-or replace them with less experiences people, who will not do that job well, which will reflect on screen. Then when the film flops, the makers will exclaim shock, as if they didn’t see it coming,” said the actor.