‘Rajkummar Rao’s entourage isn’t as overwhelming as other stars, Sharad Kelkar did the film for Rs 101:’ Srikanth producers

Sharad Kelkar, Alaya F, and Jyotika all slashed their prices to participate in the film Srikanth, starring Rajkummar Rao as the blind industrialist Srikanth Bolla.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: May 15, 2024 09:43 AM IST

3 min read

Rajkummar Rao reveals he got scammed during his struggling days.

Mr and Mrs Mahi actor Rajkummar Rao recently recalled how he was promised a break in the television industry for Rs 10,000, but after paying the money, the entire office disappeared the next day. (Pic: Rajkummar/Instagram)

The cast of the recently released biopic film Srikanth were all cognizant of the changing economics of the film business, and made appropriate adjustments. T-Series boss Bhushan Kumar, director Tushar Hiranandani and c0-producer Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani spoke about how they managed to complete the film under budget, and expressed their admiration for actors Rajkummar Rao, Alaya F, Jyotika and Sharad Kelkar for slashing their quotes.

Keeping the changing landscape of the film industry in mind, Bhushan told Tushar and Nidhi to ‘control’ the film’s budget, and bring it down from what they’d originally decided. He had no hope that they would, but he said in an interview with Zoom Entertainment that he was surprised to learn that they had managed to reduce costs by 10-15%. “It happened for the first time in T-Series that anybody has reduced the budget,” he said.

Also read – Star fees over Rs 100 cr, demands for multiple vanity vans, entourage cost of Rs 20 lakh per day: As Bollywood biggies bomb, focus on actors’ overhead costs

Much has been said about how top-heavy Indian films often are, with the bulk of the budgets being allocated to actors and their entourages. Asked about this, Nidhi said, “Thankfully, we had someone like Raj headlining the project, and he’s also very cognizant of the economics of making a film. His entourage is not as overwhelming as most of the stars. He’s very conscious of that, and it really helps us.”

Tushar added, “Sharad did the film for Rs 101. Bhushan ji called him up, he heard the idea, and he told Bhushan ji that he’s doing it for Rs 101.” Bhushan chimed it, “And it’s not like he’s doing it for the sake of it. It’s out of respect for the script that he did it.” Even Jyotika and Alaya F cut their prices for the movie. “All of us knew what we are going through in the industry, and we tried to make it economical, it’s not fair to load the film. Tushar has brought the film down to an unthinkable number of days; from 65 he brought it down to 42,” Nidhi said.

Released on May 10 to mixed reviews, Srikanth has so far grossed Rs 15 crore in India, according to industry tracker Sacnilk. Bhushan said that he recovered costs in the first weekend itself.

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