As Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa’s debut production ‘Toaster’ streams on the OTT platform, the film’s cast—Archana Puran Singh, Sanya Malhotra, and Abhishek Banerjee—are speaking out about a deeply uncomfortable reality on Bollywood film sets: stingy producers who cut corners on basic crew welfare, from skipping lunch breaks to rationing food.In a candid conversation with News18, they contrast those experiences with the warmth and generosity they found on the sets of ‘Toaster’.
Archana Puran Singh on food rationing on film sets
Archana Puran Singh was the first to recall working with a notoriously tight-fisted production house, choosing not to name it but pulling no punches about the conditions inside. She added, “We’ve experienced this a lot. There was a very big production house, which I don’t want to name.”“We used to call them, ‘Ek boti, do roti.’ If you ask a crew member about them, they would say, ‘Achcha, yeh toh ek boti, do roti waale hai (We used to call them ‘one piece of meat, two rotis.’ If you asked any crew member about them, they would say, ‘Oh, they’re the “one piece of meat, two rotis” kind of people)’.”She added, “At the lunch table, the non-vegetarian food served would be very limited. Crew members would be told to only have a certain number of rotis and one serving of the non-vegetarian item.”She went on to add, “They want to pack in as much work as possible. We would’ve 9-6 and 2-10 shifts. These days, shifts span over 12 hours.”Archana said, “Even then, they expect us to extend our work hours by 13-14 hours and skip lunch breaks. This is a kind of kanjoosi only. Kanjoosi is a mentality. Phir aap har cheez mein kanjoosi karte ho.” She questioned how they could deny food to light men who stand under the sun for hours holding equipment, pointing out that they don’t have assistants bringing them fruits like others do, and concluded that it was terrible.
Sanya Malhotra talks about production houses
Sanya Malhotra added that the problem goes beyond food; some sets don’t allow lunch breaks at all, impacting not just actors but the entire crew. She expressed, “Some production houses don’t even give us lunch breaks. Not just actors but crew members also bear the brunt of it. But none of that happened on the sets of Toaster. Both Patra and Raj are really good. It’s a plus when a producer is also an actor.”
Rajkummar Rao discusses running his own production house
In the same conversation, Rajkummar Rao questioned the logic of skipping lunch breaks entirely, pointing out a simple fix that costs nothing but empathy. He said, “I wonder why lunch breaks are not given. If the shoot begins at 12:30 pm, they expect us to keep at it till maybe 3:30 pm. They can instead let everyone have their lunches and start the shoot at 1:30 pm. They should think about crew members as well. In fact, as actors, our assistants can come in and give us our lunch, but what about the crew? I really don’t get it.“
Abhishek Banerjee talks about production houses not providing basic things
Abhishek Banerjee put it most bluntly, calling out producers who fail to provide basic dignity to their workers.He said, “Chhoti chhoti cheezon mein na, samajh mein aa jaata hai kanjoosi. Their idea is, isko kyun khilaaye? To save very little money, you’re depriving people. You understand these things when you work with a friend’s production house.”
More about ‘Toaster’
Directed by Vivek Daschaudary, the film stars Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Archana Puran Singh, Upendra Limaye, Farah Khan, Abhishek Banerjee, and Jitendra Joshi. The film premiered on April 15, 2026.
