Media365
4 min readKochiOct 9, 2026 11:33 AM IST
While Bollywood has been going through a difficult period, struggling to produce many blockbusters in recent years, skyrocketing entourage costs, in addition to massive star fees, have been bleeding producers dry. Even as conversations around it continue, renowned actor Rajkummar Rao has maintained that he has never imposed such burdens on any producer, thanks to the small entourage that accompanies him.
Revealing that his team consisted of only three people for the longest time, Rajkummar shared that he recently added one more person for security. He also emphasised that he has never encumbered producers with additional, unnecessary expenses.
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‘Why would you want the producer to pay for everything?’
“My entourage was never that big to begin with. For a long time, I only had three people with me — one for hair, one for makeup and the third is my personal assistant. I added a fourth person a few years back for security,” he told Mashable India.
The large entourages of Bollywood actors have been under fire, with many having as much as 10-15 people. Veteran actor Ratna Pathak Shah had said in the past that she has seen people carrying stars’ coffee cups while director-choreographer Farah Khan had pointed out that actors bring demand a vanity van where their private chef can cook for them.
Rajkummar Rao referenced that behaviour and said, “I think you should be a producer’s actor, and I have been one since the beginning of my career. If you don’t want to do something forcefully, don’t do it. If someone (the producer) is paying you, then you can get your own coffee. Why would you want the producer to pay for that as well? If you feel like eating something special, order it on your own. You don’t have to ask the producer for everything.”
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Rajkummar Rao is currently gearing up for the release of director Avinash Arun’s Prahaar, in which he plays Ujjwal Nikam, a renowned special public prosecutor. The legal drama explores Nikam’s role in the legal battles surrounding the 1993 Bombay bombings and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Also starring Wamiqa Gabbi, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Sikandar Kher, Prahaar hits the screens on Friday, October 16.
Rajkummar Rao on row over ‘AI poster’ for Sourav Ganguly biopic
He also has the Sourav Ganguly biopic, Dada, in the pipeline. During the same Mashable India conversation, the actor reacted to the severe backlash against the film’s first-look poster, which many criticised for looking “AI-generated.”
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“The ones who made it, they learnt the lesson that they shouldn’t have rushed it. Take your time, there’s no hurry. I think the team learnt their lesson. But they also learnt another thing with this, that Dada has a crazy fan following,” he said.
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Rajkummar Rao added, “Technology has pros and cons. AI will come; you can’t stop it but we should use it as a supporting tool. You can’t be totally dependent on it. And I don’t want that to happen because lakhs of livelihoods can get affected by it. You can’t recreate everything sitting in a room. You can’t replace it with human emotion. I don’t know if AI can replicate that so quickly. Because the AI work that we see, you know that it is AI. It’s not fun. You know it is fake. You can’t be making everything from AI.”
