There’s been growing concern about how much top male actors in the Hindi film industry are paid, especially since big stars like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn have had movie openings as low as Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore.
Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar talked about actors demanding high fees in a recent roundtable with directors by The Hollywood Reporter India. While talking about this Zoya told Karan Johar, "“They are not going to know. But Karan, you have to just stop paying. You have to stop paying. That's it."
Karan replied that he has stopped paying high fees to male stars. He said, "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 in 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 in 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 ₹40 crore, you’re asking for ₹40 crore? Are you guaranteeing the film will do ₹120 crore? There's no guarantee, right? So finally, I took a new boy, and he was an ‘outsider,’ I have to say it."
Karan mentioned that there are only six male actors who guarantee success, while there are over 200 films made each year. He suggested that producers should share the budget more fairly to support new, younger talent. Zoya pointed out that the technical crew deserves better pay, as male stars currently take 70% of the budget. Karan also noted that some younger stars want to charge Rs 40 crore but aren't willing to take risks with their roles.
"Kill" was released in cinemas in July, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat and co-produced by Karan's Dharma Productions and Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment. It featured Lakshya in his Bollywood debut, along with Raghav Juyal, Tanya Maniktala, and Ashish Vidyarthi.It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was picked up by Lionsgate Pictures for North American distribution. The director of John Wick, Chad Stahelski, announced a Hollywood adaptation of Kill.
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