Dulquer Salmaan has worked across multiple film industries, including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema. However, the actor, who made his Bollywood debut with the 2018 film ‘Karwaan’, didn’t have the smoothest experience in the Hindi industry during the early phase of his career. In a recent ‘The Hollywood Reporter India’ roundtable, Dulquer revealed that he was ‘pushed around’ on Hindi film sets initially, adding that the sheer size of the industry may have contributed to such behaviour where you are respected only if you are seen ‘as a big star’. He called the state of affairs ‘sad’.
During the candid chat, he revealed that the Bollywood industry demands artistes to create a ‘perception’ of being a huge star, with an entourage and big cars. “When I did Hindi films here, the two people that I would come with, we would just get pushed around on sets. I had to create this illusion of being this big star; otherwise I wouldn’t find a chair to sit on,” he said.
The actor added, “I wouldn’t find a place to see behind the monitor; there were so many people. So, it’s all about perception. Apparently, if you come in a fancy car with a lot of people, then the perception is that you are a star. It’s sad. That’s not the way my energy should go, right?” Bollywood has been getting bad press for stars’ massive entourages, where each star comes with a team of 10-15 people and often demands six vanity vans.
Actor Piyush Mishra also told ‘Curly Takes’, “Their entourage is so big. Almost nine people will come with them. They will walk with at least 12 bodyguards, but why do you need these many bodyguards? You are a single person. Who is coming to kill you?”
Dulquer also suggested that the size of the industry could be a major factor influencing such situations. “I just couldn’t understand. I don’t want to be mean to any industry, but I guess it’s a cultural thing. Rana Daggubati and I were discussing that the size of the Hindi industry is so massive - the number of theatres, markets and so many states speak the language and watch those films. We have just two states and we think that we are a big deal. Maybe the size of the industry influences things,” he shared.