Jackky Bhagnani responds to report claiming Akshay Kumar charged Rs 120 cr for Cuttputlli: ‘He is most fair when it comes to fees’
Producer Jackky Bhagnani spoke about actors’ upfront fee and the profit sharing deals that all stars strike in their projects.
Producer Jackky Bhagnani, who has produced films like Cuttputlli and Bell Bottom with Akshay Kumar as the lead star, recently said that he finds Akshay to be the “most fair when it comes to charging his fees.”
Jackky was asked about the large amount of star fees in a recent interview after reports emerged that Akshay’s fee for Cuttputlli (which released on an OTT platform) was significantly higher than Shah Rukh Khan’s for Pathaan. The report suggested that SRK charged a fee of Rs 35-40 crore for the YRF film along with a profit sharing deal whereas Akshay’s fee for Jackky’s film was an upfront Rs 120 crore, which was apparently 80 per cent of the film’s budget. Jackky dismissed the report and said that these are “misinformed calculations.” He added that every top star has a “has a stake in the films’ profit.”
He said that the actor’s fee is a result of their stake in the film and added that comparing one actor’s fee to another is like “comparing apples with oranges”. He told Hindustan Times, “Their overall fee is a function of that stake and how much the film earns on the box office. This is the way it works, whether for SRK or Akshay Kumar or Salman Khan or most leading stars. To compare one actor’s base fee with another actor’s overall profit earning is like comparing apples with oranges.”
When asked about the specifics of the upfront fee and the profit sharing deals that the actors’ strike, Jackky refused to give any details but said that Akshay was “most fair” in these financials. “I can’t specifically comment on anyone else but I am doing my fourth film as a producer with Akshay Sir and I find him most fair when it comes to charging his fees,” he said.
During the HT Leadership Summit, Akshay Kumar had spoken about lowering the costs of movie making by 30-40 percent, including the actors’ fee. The Samrat Prithviraj actor was speaking with regard to the many box office failures that Hindi cinema saw this year. “You have to do this if you want the public to come back to the theatre,” he said.
News Source:- The Indian EXPRESS
