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"Kartik Aaryan financially stood by us": Bhushan Kumar on acting fees debate and the budget impact
"Today, people want to see larger than life cinema and you need to put big money to make those films. Such films can't be made without support of the actors," says Bhushan Kumar, as he addresses the acting fees debate.
The failure of Hindi films in the pandemic got back the debate around the amount that actors are charging to act in a film. The trade and industry has pointed out how most of the money goes into actor fees with little left to be invested in cost of production. In an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, producer Bhushan Kumar finally broke the silence of producers around the on-going debate.
"Today, people want to see larger than life cinema and you need to put big money to make those films. Such films can't be made without support of the actors and to their credit a lot of them are doing it now. For example, Kartik, he supported us a lot. This factor is very important for making a big budget film. Today, if the actor fee is more, we compromise on the budget," he says without mincing the words.
Citing the example of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Bhushan explains that the film output was good since they invested most of the money in actually making the film. "The result is visible on screen. Even the actors should charge basis appeal of the film. Today, Aamir (Khan) sir signs a backend deal wherein he earns only if the film works," Bhushan explains. 
The filmmaker, who is touted to be the busiest in Bollywood, insists that the verdict of a film is decided based on the budget. "Not every film needs to earn Rs 100 crore. Our film, Pati Patni Aur Woh made 92 crore and it's a Super Hit. Today, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has done Rs 150 crore, but we would have been in a happy space even at Rs 80 to 90 crore. Our next film is Shehzada, and we would want it to do better than Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, but that isn't a benchmark, because the finances of that film are different. Kartik financially stood by us during the turbulent times and hats off to him.``
Addressing the price hike issue again, Bhushan exults, "After delivering just one successful film, actors hike their fees. But this practice is not good in the long run. Whenever an actor unreasonably hikes his price, he has faced problems going ahead." Bhushan signs off hinting that he actually lost money in one of his films that is termed to be a super hit. "There is a film of mine which is termed a super hit. To be honest, I lost money on it. I won't name the film," he concludes. Watch the full video conversation below.
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