Filmmaker Karan Johar hit out at young actors at journalist Anupama Chopra's annual 'adda' discussion on her website, calling them “delusional” about their status in the industry. Raising a point he had made at last year's panel, Johar said a few major stars in Bollywood had deluded themselves into believing they still had the power to draw audiences- they demand salaries in double digits but can't open a film.
“It is a disease,” Johar said, “Everyone has it.” Johar also stressed that just because an actor had delivered a couple of box office hits, they began believing they are invincible. When Chopra elaborated the problem, saying entourage, hair and make up costs alone go up to Rs 1 Lakh a day for some actors, Johar said she had touched a “raw nerve”. “They are all crazy! Crazy, with a capital 'C'. They're cuckoo, many of them. Just because their two films do well suddenly it's all me, myself and I.”
He pointed out that this is a flawed approach because “every film has a different scale.” Johar blames celebrity management for the trend. He said that most celebrity managers are “clueless” about how the industry works, and once their clients secure lucrative deals, event and wedding appearances and “walk on to a stage with 3000 people crying out their name, it's easy to get swayed. “They just think, 'Oh, your film did well? Increase your price by Rs 5 Crore'.” The producer even named movies that cannot be made on the same budgets any more. Low budget movies like 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' and 'Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan' can't be made on the same budgets any more “perhaps because the same actors will demand bigger salaries.” He also named a few actors, saying, “All these wonderful actors; Rajkummar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal; I hope they are solid and sensible about their monetary choices.”
