In a recent interview, veteran Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi shared interesting anecdotes from her earlier career days, highlighting the stark contrast between production costs then and now. According to Azmi, she was “astonished” to learn about the massive entourages and budgets that actors routinely demand today.
Reminiscing about the 1970s-80s era, Azmi mentioned how she traveled humbly with only a small team of three. For low budget films, she brought her own clothes and shared makeup/hair personnel with the unit. The entire crew, including actors, stayed in the same hotels.
In one memorable instance from 1983 film ‘Mandi', Azmi and co-star Smita Patil opted to ride the cast bus instead of separate cars, enjoying fun-filled company. Azmi further stated that actors like late Sanjeev Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha once paid out of their own pockets to save films from being cancelled due to funding troubles.
Comparing then to shifting trends in Hollywood, Azmi observed how American producers tightly control non-essential personnel on sets. The veteran actor's nostalgic narration offers a fascinating peek into Bollywood's largely team-oriented past versus the culture of lavish production entourages prevalent today. Her simple anecdotes remind us that creative excellence need not compromise basic cooperation and care for a film's overall success.
