John Abraham says Bollywood is ‘suffering’ due to actors’ high fees: ‘How much more will you suck the system?’

John Abraham recently opened up about the rising entourage costs of actors and called it one of the reasons why Bollywood is suffering. John didn’t mince his words to speak strongly against the rising personal costs of actors and said that focus should be more on building great content than charging ‘obscene amounts’.

In an interview to The Hollywood Reporter India, John said, “At this point of time, we shouldn’t be paying people to act in films because we don’t justify those huge budgets. We can’t load a film with entourage costs as well. It’s ridiculous.”

He added, “Don’t know if actors are thinking this way or is it their agent making them think differently. I understand you are put in a bubble, but you can’t be so daft. You need to see the real world. If people are blowing sunshine from your backside, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. As an industry, we are really suffering.”

According to John, there is a need for actors to cut down on their fees. “When a director tells you that you aren’t worth that much, you need to take that in cognizance. We don’t have that thought yet. We compare ourselves to other actors, and we want to broadcast our fees, and that’s the worst thing to do,” he said.

He further appealed actors to work in the backend on a film. “Actors should admit that we are down the deep black hole, and actors should go to the backend and work on the film. Actors should say that if the films make profit, we make profits because we have earned our millions. How much more will you suck the system dry?”

The actor also said that producers are part of the cycle too. “Producers are all willing to pay those obscene amounts as well," he said, adding, "Make films, don’t make proposals. Today no actor can get you any opening. Get your content right and cast actors according to the script.”

On the workfront, John will be seen next in the political thriller The Diplomat which is set to be released in theatres on March 7.