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Rs 15 million: Sunny Deol. |
"Earlier, everyone was just interested in getting security or, after a senior police officers's suggestion, trying to get arms to protect themselves," says a senior producer. Earnings were hidden rather than displayed. But now many stars, both in the Bom bay and Madras circuits, are returning to their old ways.
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Rs 12 million: Madhuri Dixit. |
Bachchan was taken aback when Bokadia agreed, having demanded the sum only to get rid of a producer with a string of flops. But there it was, his new price now.
Rates run high here and have always been climbing. In 1993, Sanjay Dutt demanded and got Rs 4 million for a film while just two years earlier he signed up a film for R K Nayyar for only Rs 50,000.
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Rs 15 million: Shah Rukh Khan. |
Just sometime ago Pahalaj Nihalani of Aankhen fame launched Indian with Sunny Deol and Aishwarya Rai as the lead pair. The total bill worked out to Rs 350 million, to be paid by diamond merchant Bharat Shah. After the Gulshan Kumar murde r saw the industry going through a low, the film turned white elephant was quietly shelved.
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Rs 9 million: Urmila Matondkar. |
But what goes up does come down sometimes. As in the case of Urmila Matondkar post-Rangeela.
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Rs 12.5 million: Nana Patekar. |
Down south too, prices have been rising. Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth hiked their rates after Chiranjeevi began demanding 12.5 million per Telugu film. Kamal justifies his move.
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Rs 15 million: Kamal Hasan. |
While big prices are the norm, concessions are made for personal considerations. Like Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan refused payment for Hum Aapke Hain Kaun from the Rajshris. They were finally persuaded to accept Rs 51,000 apiece.
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Where the stars came cheap: A still from Hum Aapke Hai Koun. |
When the stars first began demanding these huge sums, the producers first pleaded helplessness since no respectable bank would fund films which are unsafe investments with little guarantee of repayment. Not that private parties have not funded films. Shap oorji Pallonji had invested a tens of millions in K Asif's Mughal-e-Azam in the early 1960s.
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For whom Shah Rukh cuts rates: Yash Chopra. |
In the long run, the stars stand to suffer since producers have been more reluctant to borrow from criminals after the crackdown following the Gulshan Kumar murder. Already the number of films being made have been reducing and many small-time producers ha ve shifted to television.
The river may be drying up but, for the moment, people like Karisma and Amitabh haven't noticed it. Yet.