Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and casting director Mukesh Chhabra have criticised the involvement of managers and 'middlemen' in the professional lives of Bollywood celebrities. On X, they expressed their frustration over the negative impact of this trend on the industry.
Vivek, without naming anyone, shared a recent incident where he had to let go of a lead actor from a project due to the unprofessional behavior of the actor's manager.
He wrote, "I had to fire a lead actor last week because his manager was so arrogant and behaved as if he had the prerogative to be like this just because he is an employee of a ‘Huge Celeb’s’ Star Kid Talent Agency’. These middlemen have destroyed more careers than made it. Do a workshop and train these kids, Mukesh."
The director's post was a response to Mukesh's earlier post criticising the excessive number of people involved in managing a celebrity's career.
On the chaotic state of the industry, he wrote, "The current state of the film industry: one actor, 200 casting directors, and 15,680 managers."
There's also an ongoing debate in Bollywood about the role of managers and agencies in shaping the careers of actors. Many feel that instead of simplifying the process, these 'middlemen' are creating barriers and making it difficult for genuine talent to flourish.
Vivek is quite vocal about various social and political issues in the country. He often shared his unfiltered views on different topics on social media.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Vivek is all set to return with Parva - An Epic Tale Of Dharma, which is said to be based on the Hindu epic Mahabharata. In October 2023, the filmmaker had share the first look of the film.
He has also begun work on his upcoming film, The Delhi Files.
