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Dulquer Salmaan Reveals He Was 'Pushed Around' on Hindi Film Sets: ‘I Had to Create Illusion of Stardom to Find a Chair’
The actor contrasts his early experiences on Hindi sets with the non-existent entourage culture in the Malayalam film industry
Long before Dulquer Salmaan became a pan-India star with a fanbase that crosses industries, he had his crash course on how perception shapes hierarchy on a Hindi film set. The actor made his Bollywood debut in 2018 with Karwaan and was then seen in Sonam Kapoor-starrer The Zoya Factor the following year.
During THR India's producers roundtable 2025, Dulquer recalled how he had to fake stardom to get a chair on a Hindi film set.
“When I did Hindi films here, my two people and I would just get pushed around on set,” he says, almost amused at the memory. “I had to create this illusion of being this big star. Otherwise, I wouldn’t find chairs to sit! I wouldn’t find space to look at the monitors. It’d be a big crowd of people.”
That early culture shock taught him something he still carries. “I realised it’s all perception. If you come in a fancy car with a lot of people, then suddenly the perception is, ‘Oh, this is a star.’ Which is sad because that’s not where my energy should go.”
The irony, of course, he notes, is that he comes from an industry where the culture is the opposite. In Malayalam cinema, an entourage cost is negligible, with no concepts of multiple vanity vans and private chefs. “We never had any luxury on set. We’d shoot all over the state, get permission from a house, pay the owners, and that would be where we change or use the restrooms. That was always the practice,” he explains.
As conversations around entourage inflation and skyrocketing costs pick up across industries, Dulquer is clear about a simple rule he follows that one must pay for what they want.
“Most of us absorb our own costs. If I’m being paid X, then X minus whatever my entourage costs or luxuries I want… I can absorb it. It’s not the end of the world. There’s no end to perks when something is free; you enjoy it more and keep wanting more.”
The actor says he keeps his life stripped down by habit, noting how he travels alone and packs his own bags. "If I can do this by myself on holiday, I can function like this on a shoot. The moment people feel you can’t function without an entourage, everything balloons. Suddenly, assistants have assistants,” he quips.