Bollywood Crumbling: Superstars Must Change?

The Bollywood film industry is one of the most lucrative and financially settled markets in the country. However, in the recent past Hindi cinema has been bleeding due to the prevailing production costs and umpteen issues related to financial expenditures.

Bollywood movies are becoming more expensive, and many insiders say the main reason is not always big sets or VFX, but the demands of top stars. Producers often have to agree to these requests to keep stars happy, but this puts heavy pressure on film budgets.

One of the biggest costs comes from vanity vans. Many stars do not use just one but ask for several vans for different purposes including one for relaxing, one for meetings, one for the gym, one for food, one for hair and makeup, and even one for their staff. In some cases, stars demand up to six vans at the same time.

The entourage expenses are also very high. For example, reports say Deepika Padukone asked the producers of Kalki 2 to cover the cost of 25 personal staff members during the shoot. Similarly, Salman Khan was said to arrive late on the sets of Sikandar and even wanted morning scenes to be shot at night, which created extra challenges.

These star demands force producers to spend crores more, leaving less money for essential filmmaking needs. Industry experts believe this trend is inflating budgets and making movies riskier to produce.