Ass Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa’s first production ‘Toaster’ on the OTT platform, the film’s actors—Archana Puran Singh, Sanya Malhotraand Abhishek Banerjee—are talking about a very uncomfortable reality on the Bollywood film set: stingy producers who cut corners on the welfare of their core crew, from skipping lunch breaks to rationing food.In a candid interview with News18, they contrasted those experiences with the warmth and generosity found on the sets of ‘Toaster’.
Archana Puran Singh about food rationing on film sets
Archana Puran Singh was the first to reminisce about working with a famous production house, choosing not to name it but not pulling any punches about the conditions inside. He added: “We’ve been through this a lot. There was a very big production house that I don’t want to name.”“We used to tell them: “Ek boti, do roti”. If you ask a crew member about them, they’d say, ‘Achcha, yeh toh ek boti, do roti waale hai (We used to call them ‘one piece of meat, two rotis’. If you ask a crew member about them, they’d say, ‘Oh, they’re the ‘one piece of meat, two rotis’ type)”.He added, “At the snack table, the non-vegetarian food served would be very limited. The crew members would be told to take only a certain number of rotis and one portion of the non-vegetarian item.”He added: “They want to pack in as much work as possible. We would have 9-6 and 2-10 shifts. These days, the shifts take more than 12 hours.”Archana said, “Yet they expect us to extend our working hours by 13-14 hours and skip lunch breaks. It’s only a kind of Kanjoosi. It’s a Kanjoosi mentality. Phir aap har cheez mein kanjoosi karte ho.” He questioned how he could deny food to bright men who spend hours under the sun holding their equipment, pointing out that they don’t have helpers like the others who bring them fruit, and concluded that it was horrible.
Sanya Malhotra speaks production houses
Sanya Malhotra added that the problem goes beyond nutrition; some sets do not allow lunch breaks, it will affect not only the actors but also the entire crew. He stated, “Some production houses don’t even give us a lunch break. Not only the actors, but the crew also bear the brunt of it. But on the sets of Toaster, that didn’t happen. Patra and Raj are very good. It’s a plus if a producer is also an actor.”
Rajkummar Rao talks about running his own production house
In the same interview, Rajkummar Rao questioned the logic of skipping lunch breaks altogether, pointing to a simple fix worth nothing more than empathy. He said: “I wonder why they don’t take lunch breaks. If the shoot starts at 12:30, maybe they expect us to last until 3:30. Instead, everyone can skip lunch and start filming at 1:30. They should also think about the crew members. In fact, as our actors, we can talk about our assistants, but what can you give them for lunch? I really don’t. get it“
Abhishek Banerjee He talks about production houses not providing basic things
Abhishek Banerjee said it most bluntly, calling out producers who do not provide basic dignity to 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 are cutting people off. You understand these things when you work with a friend’s production house.”
More about “Toaster”.
Directed by Vivek Dashaudary, it stars Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Archana Puran Singh, Upendra Limaye, Farah Khan, Abhishek Banerjee and Jitendra Joshi. The film was released on April 15, 2026.
