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Bollywood Star Entourages in 2025: How Much Do They Cost A Film's Producer?
Bollywood’s entourage obsession — where stars need stylists, chefs and vanity vans — has producers sweating, as the real drama unfolds off-screen: balancing egos with budgets.
A young actor heads to a tier-two city for an event. The actor is pumped after being informed by his agency that he is so popular now that he will require bouncers to escort him safely from the airport. The news quickly spreads through Bollywood WhatsApp groups, with his colleagues in the Hindi film industry laughing at the irony of him moving around with a security team, months after the ticket-paying audience didn’t even turn up to watch his film in cinemas.
The Hindi film industry, reeling from a lukewarm year at the box office and high star fees, continues to stare at the phenomenon of actors’ entourages, which includes — but isn’t limited to — their man Friday, personal security, stylist, hair and make-up artists, and photographers.
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THR India spoke to multiple industry insiders to find out what it means to have an entourage and why it has become one of the biggest talking points within the industry.
It has largely been accepted as a perceived truth that the more people around an actor, the bigger the star. But it takes time for an actor to reach a stage of walking around with a battery of people and, specifically, to be able to afford the best stylist and hair and make-up artists. Even then, some of the veterans in the field will take years to come on board, industry sources say.
The legacy names that continue to dominate the space include stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania (who has worked with stars like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Hrithik Roshan); make-up artist Mickey Contractor, who regularly collaborates with Kajol, Priyanka Chopra-Jonas, Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt; and costume designers Niharika Bhasin and Aki Narula.
The other top stylists associated with major Bollywood stars include Shaleena Nathani (Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan), Tanya Ghavri (Bhatt, Kaif, Kapoor Khan), Eka Lakhani (Karan Johar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranveer Singh), Lakshmi Lehr (Roshan, Kiara Advani, Kapoor Khan, and Rashmika Mandanna), Ami Patel (Chopra-Jonas, Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor) and Meagan Concessio (Ananya Panday, Janhvi and Sonam Kapoor).
A top hair and make-up artist, on the condition of anonymity, shares that it is impossible to pick, aside from the veterans, who tops the ranking, as the parameter is mostly subjective. “Mickey may work for Kajol but may not work for Deepika Padukone, who usually prefers foreign hair and make-up artists. But yes, since Mickey is a veteran, he will be the top entourage artist. If Aki Narula or Anaita are on a film set, they will get more respect than any other stylist. People like them were styling actors even before being a stylist was a full-time job,” they say.
When it comes to films, a significant change from the ’90s or the early 2000s has been that a movie producer will now foot the bill of an actor’s entourage, which used to be shouldered by the stars.
There is no fixed per-day rate, and it depends on production as well as the budget of the film, but on an average, a star’s spot boy could charge anywhere between ₹20,000 and ₹25,000; premium personal security would be about ₹15,000; a stylist could charge between ₹75,000 and over ₹1 lakh.
The overhead cost of a star on a set extends to even the demand for multiple vanity vans, with one unit costing ₹50,000 per day. This excludes the cost of a personal chef in food trucks, generators, and the vanity van driver. For a big film, if all these demands are met by the producer, the average cost to have a star on set will amount to ₹20 lakh per day.
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Industry insiders reveal that the math is simple: The higher the stars earn, the more the entourage will pocket. “Why do you think the entourage sucks up to the stars? Because if the star is not there, the entourage isn’t either. If the star isn’t earning money, who will pay the entourage?” one insider laughs.
A stylist, on the condition of anonymity, explains that if Alia Bhatt’s brand endorsement rate, for example, is ₹20 lakh, and if she has Mickey Contractor on board, he will get ₹3 lakh. But if her films start dipping at the box office, the fees will naturally go down as well. Then, if Alia gets ₹10 lakh for a shoot, Contractor’s remuneration would also come down to ₹1 lakh.
“If Shaleena Nathani is working with Deepika and Tamannaah Bhatia, she will charge differently for both of them. If she charges ₹10 lakh a day for Deepika, for Tamannaah it would be ₹3 lakh. Now, that doesn’t mean she is doing a bad job for the one she is charging less, but simply about the star. It is not about the talent here as much as it is about the actors. If their films don’t work, we won’t earn,” the stylist shares.
However, in some cases, it is also about having a family name and the maker’s intent which dictates the cost.
When a young star kid was debuting recently, the per-look styling cost was around ₹70,000, because the producer wanted a particular stylist on board to present the young actor in the best possible manner. The same stylist then worked with another actor and charged 50 per cent less.
“The rate was significantly different, even though the actor had more experience in the industry and is more popular than the star kid, who was just debuting. But the market value of the actor, known mostly for mid-sized films, was lower than that of a star kid, who was yet to establish themselves.”
Last year, when the rising entourage cost became a topical point of discussion within the film circle, the Producers Guild of India (PGI) called for an urgent meeting with the talent management agencies to keep costs in check. Several producers voiced their concern that overhead costs were burdening their films and urged the body to look into it.
In another interaction with THR India about star fees and entourage costs, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, who was the president of PGI from 2016 to 2022, said the only way out is for makers to start putting their foot down.
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“It is a demand and supply situation. People are only going to ask for what they think they can get and if they don’t, they will settle for what they can. If you want to take a stand, then don’t pay [an amount which feels unfair]. The more we keep lamenting on the woe of costs, without anyone compelling us to spend that, it is going to be a circular discussion leading to nothing productive,” the producer said.
While last year the conversation around the rising entourage cost had led to PGI holding a series of meetings to resolve it, sources in the know say if the problem persists in 2025 as well, the makers might band together to cap the costs and make it more uniform.
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