How many zeroes in a crore?

Stars rule. They demand. They throw tantrums. And they get paid. Producers shell out blindly. Bank accounts bleed and touch nil balance. And the clock starts ticking with interest rates.

The banyan tree of Tamil cinema production G.Venkatesawaran (GV Films), tragically committed suicide a few years ago, although he was a veteran producer whose banner was part of several cult Tamil films. Without waiting to mourn his death even for a short while, the loan sharks swept in swiftly to recover what he owed them. The pressure producers are put under is unbelievable, and they are never given the due respect they deserve. They are backbones of cinema, and without them movie stars can never be movie stars.

The meteoric rise in star prices today will send anyone’s head spinning. Post 2007, when corporate names entered the Tamil film industry, a silent battle began between them and individual producers as both tugged at call sheets of stars. With single cheque payments being promised from the corporate houses, independent producers applied pressure to financiers and also dug up their bank accounts to pay stars and hold call sheets.

The highest paid actor is Rajinikath, and his figure touches Rs.25 crores for a venture. Kamal Hassan too is demanding Rs.25 crores per film today. The figure seems reasonable for Rajnikanth as he is still the only actor today who can demand a massive opening. His business has crossed the Rs.100 crores mark post “Sivaji”. But for a star like Kamal Hassan, he is worth it only for a film on the scale of “Dasavatharm” because of the hype across the world.

If he is paid such a figure for a remake like “Unnai Pol Oruvan”, it will be professional suicide for the producer. Right behind them are Ajith, Surya and Vijay whose remuneration mark has touched Rs.10 crores. Surya’s and Vijay’s pay cheques are worth it because they sell faster than any other actors in Tamil cinema. Both actors’ films are shot on an average budget of Rs.18 crores, and are always sold for anything between Rs.30 to Rs.35 crores (Rs.12 to Rs.17 crores table profit for the producer), and distributors are always happy with their films. But producers feel Ajith needs to cut down on his remuneration figure, because of his recent failures such as “Aegan” and “Asal” affecting distributors.

Ramesh Babu of Kanakarathna Movies, who works with some of the biggest stars, says “I do not have any second thoughts about paying Vijay or any lead actor the amount they ask for. I however will like to remain tight lipped about the amount, as it would not be fair if I mentioned it to the press”. He was recently in the limelight for asking Vishal to return the advance of Rs.1 crore that he paid to the actor, as he was initially set to produce “Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai”.

Not many actors are reasonable about their pricing, and the producers need to pump money for the cost of production as well. What stars do not understand, is the fact that producers, distributors and theatre owners have to recover all their investment from a film. We cannot say that any one of the producers is safe, because they are in a delicate situation till distributors buy rights and cover the investment with a good profit figure.

It is a fact that producers sometimes after investing large amounts of money with a star and the cost of production for a film, fail to recover the entire amount from distributors. They have no other choice but to face an average 30 percent deficit from the budget of the film.

Producer Aascar Ravichandran who produced the magnum opus “Dasavatharam” says, “I paid Kamal an amount of Rs.7 crores for the movie”. The producer in this case recovered all the money invested, because he distributed the movie himself worldwide and made a huge profit as well because of the hype.

About a couple of years back and for years before that, soon after a film was announced, distributors rushed to the producer and paid them money in advance for area rights on the day of the puja. This would help the producer with the shooting cost and remuneration, and he would not have to pump in any money for the film from his own pocket. This does not happen anymore, because distributors have gotten smarter and they demand quality content. The only safe bet for producers today is satellite rights, which can be sold for a good amount, as there are various television channels looking for new films with good content.

Though the A list stars such as Rajinikath, Kamal, Vijay, Vikram, Ajith and Surya have good business figures, there is still no guarantee that the money is safe for the producer. Rewind to the year 2007 Diwali releases. The cost of production went up in the case of the Vijay starrer “Azhagiya Tamizh Magan”, and its producer Appachan faced a loss to a tune of Rs.5 crores. This was because he had already sold the film to distributors, the film’s release was a few days away, and had to put in extra money for a re-shoot. Vijay neatly pocketed his multi crore remuneration cheque, and cared two hoots for the producer’s loss.

Post “Billa” and “Sathyam”, after working with the biggest stars and biggest banners, and appearing with the Superstar himself in three films, Nayantara’s pay cheque kept climbing. As it touched the Rs.1 crore mark, and recession was slowing down the international market, the Tamil Nadu Producers’ Council suddenly woke up from its slumber, as veteran filmmakers from Kerala and Tamil Nadu (names withheld) began asking one single question. “Why should a star like Nayantara get paid so much only to show skin on screen? What happened to quality cinema and quality acting?” All producers demanded that stars reduce their remuneration figures, and refused to speak to their managers or PROs as well.

Stars also demand that some amounts are accounted for and some are unaccounted for. They then throw numbers at the producer saying, X amount needs to be in cash and Y amount needs to be paid as a cheque. They have absolutely no qualms or professional ethics when it comes to demanding amounts or modes of payments. This has most of the producers in a fix. If the producer is unable to pay the amount, then the star may demand area rights. This trend has died down a great deal, because stars want to be safe, in case the movie fails and they do not rake in money through box office collections. They got smarter and played safe by asking for remuneration in full amounts. But a star like Vishal still demands Chennai city rights today.

Some stars like Simbu besides demanding a large pay cheque, also demands reshoots and controls production costs. Even post his tiff with producer Thenappan (Sri Raaj Lakshmi Films) when “Vallavan” went overboard with the production budget and the Tamil Nadu Producers’ Council issued a red card against him; he continues to put producers in the dark. He has stalled the shooting of “Kettavan” on the pretext of rewriting the script and “Poda Podi” (after one schedule was completed) because he was offered a dynamite combination of Gautham Menon and AR.Rahman in the form of “Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya”.

As the stars walk away happily with heavy cheques, and as they grow richer by several crores of Rupees overnight, the poor producers dig out their calculators and jam in the numbers. If they recover the money from distributors, they heave a sigh of relief. If they do not, they see a big dent in their bank accounts. And in some cases, are left paying huge amounts of interest to loan sharks.
As the producers of “Endhiran”, Sun Pictures dish out a cool Rs.7 crores cheque to Aishwarya Rai without blinking an eye, we are beginning to look at a very serious question. Are they really worth it?


(Stars are male and female leads, and percentage is what it costs from the total production cost).

The pay cheques

Rajnikanth – Rs.25 crores
Kamal Hassan – Rs.25 crores
Surya – Rs.10 to 12 crores
Vijay – Rs.10 crores
Ajith – Rs.10 crores
Simbu – Rs.8 crores
Vishal – Rs.6 to 7 crores
Asin – Rs.1 crore
Trisha – Rs.75 lakhs
Nayantara – Rs.75 lakhs
Shriya Saran – Rs.75 lakhs
Tamannah – Rs.75 lakhs

(This information has been sourced from a well known producer in Tamil cinema, whose name has been withheld).