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The actor had a stake in his last release; part of his fee was a percentage of profit-sharing, a deal that only top B-Town actors are offered
Upala KBR (DNA; April 13, 2016)

The three Khans — Salman, SRK, Aamir — as well as Akshay Kumar are known to take a percentage of the film profits as their remuneration. They come on board as co-producers to make their fees affordable. Now Arjun Kapoor is following in the footsteps of his seniors. He is a producer for his last release Ki & Ka. The young actor shared the risk of making an offbeat romantic film with its producers and it paid off as the film is moving toward the 50 crore mark in India. None of his contemporaries — Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Ranveer Singh — have co-produced a film yet.

Says a source, “Arjun decided to keep his engagement as a producer a secret. He didn’t want that bit of news to be used as a gimmick to promote the film. The film mattered above all else. For Arjun, taking this step was important as he is a producer’s son. Being Boney Kapoor’s son, he understands the dynamics of making a film within a budget. One way of controlling the budget was reducing his fees as an actor. So he took a pay cut and cut a deal for a stake in the profits. The risk paid off. Arjun was confident that the film would do well, yet it was brave of him to slash his fee and take a profit-sharing dividend if the film did well. Now that the film has done well, he also benefits from his decision.”

The source adds that having assisted filmmakers before, Arjun is a complete producer’s actor. “He is a team player, with a fair understanding of film finance and budgeting. But he is not comfortable talking about his role as a producer even now. No one except Balki knew about Arjun’s decision. However, the actor is clear that the same decision might not apply to all his future films as every film and every decision is unique to circumstances.”