We all are quite aware of the fact that all the renowned movie stars ask for a huge amount of money for any movie that are offered, even when there is no guarantee of the movie working at the box office.
Recently, in a roundtable discussion with Off Script with Hollywood, there was an engaging conversation with five of the most prominent directors of Indian Cinema, Vetri Maaran, and Pa. Ranjith from Tamil cinema, game-changers Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar from Hindi cinema, and the multifaceted Mahesh Narayanan from the Malayalam cinema. This was a panel discussion where they all shared their insights on the current landscape of Indian cinema and how they can evolve the theatrical, cinematic, and streaming business in India.
Zoya Akhtar shared her insights on the crucial matter of high fees charged by Indian actors for any given film without thinking of the consequences it has on the entire production of the film. She stated that it has become too challenging for the directors to make the actors settle for a fair and reasonable fee. Some actors demand a fee that is as high as the entire movie budget.
She supported her argument by asking Karan Johar-“They are not going to know. But Karan, you have to just stop paying. You have to stop paying. That’s it,” at the round table. To which Karan responded by saying “What is your last couple of films? How much have you opened to? With what right are you asking me for this number? I made a small film called Kill. I put the money into it because it was a high-concept film with a rank newcomer as the face of it. Because I’ve started doing it. It was a high-concept action film. You could not make Kill in any other way. It had to be on that train. Every star asked me for the same money that the budget was for. I was like, ‘How can I pay you? When the budget is Rs. 40 crores, you’re asking for Rs. 40 crores? Are you guaranteeing the film will do Rs. 120 crores? There’s no guarantee, right? So finally, I took a new boy, and he was an ‘outsider,’ I have to say it.”
This would not be the only time the fee of an actor was an issue, every other movie that has been made, be it commercial or not actors demand sky-high fees which also affects the pay of other people involved in the movie. Stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Prabhas, and Rajinikanth are some of the highest-paid actors who ask for immense amounts of money for movies.
In case you think they deserve the amount they’re paid or if you agree with me, let me know in the comments.
