{"id":77422,"date":"2025-10-14T08:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/77422\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:32:10","slug":"he-was-one-of-bollywoods-highest-paid-actors-but-had-no-driver-drove-his-own-car-he-just-had-one-makeup-artist-for-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/77422\/","title":{"rendered":"He was one of Bollywood’s highest paid actors but had no driver, drove his own car. He just had one makeup artist for himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of big stars in Bollywood have recently come under heavy criticism for becoming a burden on producers<\/a> by increasing expenses<\/a>. In a chat with Komal Nahta, superstar Aamir Khan slammed many stars for having a large entourage and expecting the producer to bear their costs.<\/p>\n

Contrasting today\u2019s extravagant star culture, veteran actor Amrish Puri<\/a> stood out as an embodiment of discipline and humility. Known for his powerful performances and commanding screen presence, Puri remained remarkably simple and self-sufficient even after achieving immense fame as one of Indian cinema\u2019s most iconic villains and character actors. <\/p>\n

Speaking to ANI<\/a>, actor Saurabh Shukla reminisced about his experience working with Puri during the 2001 hit Nayak: The Real Hero, starring Anil Kapoor. Shukla admitted that meeting Puri shattered his preconceived notions of stardom<\/a>. He had assumed that established stars were always surrounded by assistants and glam squads, but Puri proved to be the complete opposite.
A Lesson in Simplicity and Self-Reliance
Recounting his experience, Shukla revealed that Amrish Puri preferred minimalism both in lifestyle and work. Despite being one of the highest-paid supporting actors of his time\u2014reportedly charging just one rupee more than the lead actor\u2014he maintained no secretary, no driver, and only one makeup artist. When Shukla asked him why he didn\u2019t keep a larger staff, Puri humorously replied that it made no sense to earn hard and then spend it all on employees. He emphasized independence, even driving himself to film sets and public events.<\/p>\n

“Amrish Puri used to charge one rupee more than the lead actor in his films. This shows he was such a big star, but he didn\u2019t have a secretary, and he didn\u2019t have a driver. He had just a make-up man, that\u2019s all. I asked him, \u2018Don\u2019t you have a staff?\u2019 He responded, \u2018Main pagal hoon kya? Paise main kamao aur banta rahoon staff mein (Am I mad that I earn all my money and distribute it to the staff?). That is the reason I have come to this interview driving my own car, and I don\u2019t go with an entourage’\u201d he reminisced. <\/p>\n

In Komal Nahta’s podcast, Khan observed that many celebrities today insist on traveling with massive entourages\u2014ranging from personal chefs and trainers to assistants and multiple vanity vans\u2014all of which are billed to the production. Khan clarified that while it is reasonable for producers to pay for essential professionals like makeup artists, hair stylists, and costume designers, personal staff such as drivers or cooks should not fall under the producer\u2019s budget. He condemned the habit as an exploitation of one\u2019s stardom, arguing that this practice distorts professionalism and strains film finances unnecessarily.
Add \"ET as a Reliable and Trusted News Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot of big stars in Bollywood have recently come under heavy criticism for becoming a burden on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[10418,33777,60268,430,156,27125,111,139,69,60269,60270],"class_list":["post-77422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-amrish-puri","tag-ani","tag-bollywood-stars","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-expenses","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-producers","tag-stardom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}