In a recent directors' roundtable organized by The Hollywood Reporter India, the elephant in the room was addressed—male stars demanding astronomical fees even when their box office performances have been less than stellar. With recent blockbusters opening to a whimper instead of a bang, the conversation finally turned to, "Are we seriously still paying these guys this much?" Karan Johar chimed in, acknowledging that it’s time to reassess those oversized paychecks. But it was Zoya Akhtar who delivered the knockout punch, cutting right to the chase, “They are not going to know.
But Karan, you have to just stop paying. You have to stop paying. That's it.
” A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) Karan, in a moment of rare self-awareness, confessed that he has stopped paying such high fees. He revealed that his latest film, Kill, was made with a “rank newcomer” because every established male star had asked for the exact amount that was the entire budget of the movie. 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 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." The discussion then took a turn toward the glaring imbalance in the industry. According to Zoya, 70% of the film's budget is swallowed by a male star, leaving the technical crew with mere crumbs.
Karan also added that while younger stars are eager to demand massive sums, they aren’t exactly rushing to take risks with their roles. All this begs the question—when will Bollywood recalibrate its obsession with paying stars and start investing in actual stories? Perhaps it’s time for the industry to take Zoya’s advice and simply say, "No more.".
