Javed Akhtar reveals he was shocked to hear hairdressers’ rates: ‘They earn Rs 75,000 a day’

Well-known lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar never shies away from sharing his thoughts on various topics related to the industry and is currently making headlines with his recent comments on the show Chill Sesh. On the show, hosted by Sapan Verma, Biswa Kalyan Rath and Shreeja Chaturvedi, Javed Akhtar discussed the rising costs of celebrity entourage. This issue is not new; In the past, many filmmakers have also criticized the new generation of stars for increasing expenses due to their unreasonable demands. The Bollywood veteran highlighted that hairdressers now charge at least Rs 75,000 a day, which caught the audience and comedians off guard. The lyricist joked that if he had known this earlier, he could have become a hairdresser.

Javed Akhtar explained: “I hear more about it now than I did before. They need three vans, they exercise in one van, food is prepared in another, in the third van they sit and eat, something like that is happening. They bring 18 to 19 employees, one of them does their hair and they earn Rs 75,000 a day. If we had known, we would have learned the same job. All this happens now. At that time people were irregular, disciplined, they arrived late, but now it’s too much. Today you have a lot of money, but that money didn’t exist back then. This is not my experience, today I am not making a film.”

During the interview, Sapan Verma also asked Javed Akhtar if working with his children, Zoya and Farhan Akhtar, is easy or if they ask him about the progress of his work. Akhtar explained that while some people may be hesitant to speak out due to their experience and status, her children are not. According to the screenwriter, his son Farhan does not argue, but simply rejects his lines. However, Zoya is more outspoken and often challenges her ideas. Akhtar added that although his children are fluent in English, they think and write in that language, but their first language is Urdu and Hindustani. He feels he has a better understanding of the language than they do. This sometimes leads to disagreements as you are told that your ideas are too traditional or outdated.

“Over the last 20-25 years I have written a script for Farhan, Lakshya. I wrote dialogues for Zoya’s first film, Luck By Chance. She told me, ‘You understand these people and these characters more than we do.’ So I know their language. Then came Dil Dhadakne Do, there was a dog in it, which I used to think about. She took that dog’s dialogue from me, the rest I didn’t write, just the dog’s dialogue,” Akhtar added.

Recently, Javed Akhtar appeared in the Amazon Prime Video documentary, Angry Young Men, alongside Salim Khan. This documentary sheds light on their creative process and the impact they had on the film industry.