Highlights:
- Dulquer Salmaan says he was pushed around on early Hindi film sets
- Reveals he had to “create an illusion of stardom” just to get a chair
- Compares Bollywood’s entourage culture with simple Malayalam sets
- Says perception drives behaviour on larger Hindi productions
- Actor gearing up for the release of Kaantha on Netflix and his next Malayalam film
Dulquer Salmaan has spoken plainly about how different his early days in Hindi cinema felt. The actor, now seen as a pan-India name, said the size and pace of the industry forced him to project a sense of stardom he did not believe in. It became a matter of survival on set. The comments came during a roundtable with THR India, where he revisited those first months after Karwaan and The Zoya Factor. He kept using one simple point to explain it: perception. A word that keeps coming up when artists talk about hierarchy on Mumbai sets.
Dulquer Salmaan recalls days on Hindi sets when he struggled to find a chair unless he acted like a star Instagram/dqsalmaan
Why Dulquer Salmaan felt he had to “look like a star”
Dulquer said he and the two people who travelled with him would be moved around constantly. At times he could not even get a chair or a corner near the monitor. He said he noticed that turning up in a big car or with a line of people instantly shifted how others responded. That image carried weight. Without it, he just blended into the crowd. He called it sad but also practical, because it exists and shapes behaviour.
It also stood out because it clashed with how he had worked back home. Malayalam cinema’s sets, he said, run without flourishes. A house doubled as a changing space, and the team paid for it. No rows of vans or multiple chefs. He grew up in that environment and still prefers it.
Dulquer Salmaan recalls being pushed aside on Hindi sets and needing fake stardom to be taken seriouslyGetty Images
How entourage culture plays out across industries
Dulquer kept his view simple: if an actor wants perks, they should pay for them. He said most Malayalam artists handle their own expenses and do not expect a production to carry their lifestyle. It keeps things cleaner and stops chains of assistants growing without reason.
He also touched on the wider debate in Hindi cinema about ballooning entourage sizes. By his reading, the scale of the Hindi market itself feeds this. Attention becomes currency, so people try to look important before they speak.
He was not pointing fingers at any star. He was talking about the way the system functions, where the look of importance can sit above the actual work. He said he still carries his own bags and prefers moving on his own, because it keeps his day cleaner and he does not need a crowd around him.
What next
Dulquer’s most recent release was the Tamil period drama Kaantha. It lands on Netflix on 12 December. His next Malayalam film is I’m Game and the team has confirmed it brings him back to Malayalam cinema after King of Kotha. The first-look poster is out, and he said he is excited to be back on a home set. He closed his roundtable remarks by saying he prefers to keep his work simple. A straight line, free of noise, is how he still moves through a shoot.
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