Anurag Kashyap explains how Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan films are not costly: ‘They don’t take fees instead…’
Anurag Kashyap explains how Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan films are not costly: ‘They don’t take fees instead…’
In recent weeks, The Indian Express has published several reports highlighting that Bollywood is experiencing "one of the driest periods in recent times," with many industry insiders openly stating that "there’s no money" in the business. The industry's struggles are excaberated by the exorbitant fees demanded by stars and their high entourage costs. Ace filmmaker Anurag Kashyap addressed this issue, stressing the need for others in the industry to learn from superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan.
Emphasising that he would not hesitate to fire any actor who makes unnecessary demands that could drive up production costs, Kashyap asserted that he never considers an actor's stardom when making such decisions. "Mere set pe aisa koi demand ayega na, mai actor drop kardeta hu. Makeup mere liye department hai, hair department hai aur uska head of department hota hai jo apni team chunta hai. (If anyone demands unnecessary things on sets, I remove the actor. For me, makeup and hair are a department which is led by a HOD who shortlists members). Agar koi aisi unnecessary demand karta hai, I replace my actor and I don’t care. That’s why I work with newcomers. I don’t care how big a star it is I will drop them from the film. I will not allow it because it’s work," he said during a chat with Bollywood Bubble.
He also slammed the practice of setting aside 50-60 per cent of production cost as star fees. "Jab aap film banate ho, toh film banane se jyada kharcha faltu cheezon mein jaata hai. Actors ki fees se dikkat nahi kyuki wo market dictate karti hai. Mai jaisi filmein banata hu mai limit mein rehta hu, kayi baar mai apni fees forfeit bhi kar deta hu. Maine life mein 60% se jyada filmon mein zero fees pe kaam kiya hai (When you make a film, more money is spent on useless things than on production. Actors do not care about their fees because the market dictates them. I have stayed within the limits of the kind of films I have made, and sometimes I have even forfeited my fees. More than 60 per cent of the films in my life, I have worked on zero fees)," he said.
"Biggest example is Gangs of Wasseypur. My fees was zero because I didn’t want to replace actors with big stars. Mai bade actors ke saath kaam nahi karta, lekin sabse jyada cost conscious industry mein humare teen bade stars hai- Shah Rukh, Salman aur Aamir. Teeno fees nahi lete film mein. Wo har film backend lete hai. Unki koi film costly nahi hoti (I don't work with big actors. But the most cost-conscious persons in our industry are the three big bad stars we have - Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir. They do not charge fees for their films. They take backend in their films. Hence, none of their films are costly)," he added.
Recently, various film producer bodies and heads of the biggest talent management agencies in Bollywood held the first round of meetings to tackle the menace of entourage cost, which has severely burdened productions and forced everyone except a star to take a huge pay cut.
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