In a time when many big-budget films are unable to recover costs at the box office, the salaries paid to the assistants of stars by the production team become a focal point of discussion. The Telugu film industry’s actors and actresses have been on strike for a month now, calling for the regularisation of their pay and the implementation of a new OTT release mechanism. The shootings have been postponed. The Telugu Film Board of Trade has made new regulations in this case. In it, the producers won’t pay the technicians’ and actors’ and actresses’ assistant’s salaries.
There was a demand to bring this system into the Tamil film industry a few years ago but it did not materialise. Sources say that most Tamil actors have up to 8 assistants, including makeup artists, hair stylists and others. Apart from this, if the assistants are flown in from Mumbai, the cost of staying in a star hotel, and car rental will be an additional cost. Let us find out how much a production unit has to spend on assistants for leading stars.
According to reports, the personal staff for actresses Nayanthara and Ramya Krishnan are each given Rs 65,000 and Rs 80,000 a day. Reports also suggest that Keerthy Suresh’s aides earn Rs 55,000, Samantha and Rashi Khanna’s assistants receive Rs 60,000 while Trisha’s attendants receive between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000. However, Nithya Menon is said to be one of the few actresses who do not charge huge salaries for their assistants.
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Among the actors, Rajinikanth’s assistants are paid Rs 75,000 per day, Thalapathy Vijay’s assistant’s Rs 50,000 and Dhanush’s assistants Rs 50,000. It has been reported that Silambarasan had 21 assistants during the making of the upcoming Pathu Thala, costing the production team up to Rs 80,000 per day. Samuthirakani’s assistants are paid Rs 35,000 and Atharva’s assistants Rs 27,000.
Suriya, Karthi, Vikram, Sivakarthikeyan and Vishal charge relatively less for their assistants’ salaries, around Rs 15,000 per day. Ajith reportedly stopped charging for assistants after the movie Mankatha, until which he charged Rs 25,000 for assistants. For the upcoming AK61, he is reportedly using assistants appointed by the production company.
According to the producers, the salaries and expenses for the assistants of the actors and actresses account for the additional cost of one to one and a half crores rupees per film.
