‘Shah Rukh Khan, Salman, Aamir do profit sharing, are mindful of recoveries’: Ramesh Taurani on how Bollywood can solve star fee problem

In an interview with Indianexpress.com, Ramesh Taurani spoke about the trends of the industry, why star fee is a bigger problem than entourage cost–which many including Karan Johar, Shabana Azmi and Anurag Kashyap have spoken against– why romantic films have faded from the big screen and the lineup of his production house with Race 4 and Varun Dhawan fronted comedy with filmmaker father David Dhawan.

Edited excerpts:

You started the year with Merry Christmas and now there is Ishq Vishq Rebound. How do you look at it?

It was a nice start. Sure, what we had expected Merry Christmas to do at the box office may not have happened, but it got immense critical acclaim and was loved a lot. Because it was made under a certain budget, we didn’t face any financial problem in that. It gave us a lot of creative satisfaction that those who saw the film loved it.

As the saying in our industry goes, films don’t fail, budgets do. So if you make a film with a certain cast, the budget has to be drawn accordingly. At the same time, you have to make your film look good. If you watch Ishq Vishq Rebound, it looks fresh and colourful, and a big screen experience. It will not look like a film just assembled on a set here.

A lot of makers today are voicing their concern regarding entourage cost, rousing stars fees. How do you look at it?

See filmmaking is a business, ultimately. When I am mounting a film and signing a star, I have to look at his fee, his entourage cost. I proceed by factoring everything, and if I feel it is too high, I talk to them and negotiate with them. It is then upto the negotiation and if I feel the amount agreed is feasible, that the project is viable, only then will I make it otherwise I won’t. No one makes a film not thinking about this.

So, entourage cost is there, but a bigger problem is the star fee. It’s true that they ask for a high fee but a lot of stars today are mindful of the recoveries and the business, and they come in backend, and they agree for profit sharing. Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan do that. We made Race 3 with Salman, and everything was on a partnership basis. All big stars do this today. So, if the entourage cost increases, it will also be deducted from their share. It is a better business model.

When Ishq Vishq had released, it was the era of romances, which doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

Today, we don’t see young films. Everyone is making action, biopics, issues-based films and movies on the army, but romances have reduced. Something like that was missing and hence we were on the lookout for a subject, which is when we got the idea of Ishq Vishq Rebound.

Big stars don’t do romantic films anymore, they all want action. After Pathaan, Jawan, Tiger 3, Fighter, there is that trend. Which is why romantic films have suffered a setback. Romantic films need to have a new conflict, which is not always easy to crack. So, to get the right script is a huge task, which could also be one of the reasons.

Is Tips developing Race 4?

Yes, we are. It will begin early next year. The script is in the works, so we are yet to lock any cast as of yet. There is also a film with Varun Dhawan and David Dhawan. It should begin in July, will be a super entertaining film.