The high fees charged by male actors, especially of Hindi cinema have been a point of discussion lately. The discussions came up after the top male stars failed to deliver at the box office in recent times despite taking home fat cheques. In a director's roundtable conducted by The Hollywood Reporter India, Karan Johar reiterated the need for male stars to reassess their remuneration, before his fellow filmmaker intervened.
The roundtable also saw Mahesh Narayan, Vetri Maaran and Pa Ranjith in attendance. ADVERTISEMENT Zoya Akhtar tells Karan Johar to not pay high fees to male stars Zoya interrupted Karan as he spoke about the rising cost of male actors' fees and said, "They are not going to know. But Karan, you have to just stop paying.
You have to stop paying. That's it". To which, Karan who is also the head of Dharma Productions responded that he's stopped paying high fees to male stars now.
Responding to Zoya, Karan 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 guara.