Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; February 13, 2018)

Ranveer Singh, who is riding high on the success of Padmaavat, was recently approached to make an appearance at a wedding. The organisers wanted him to be at the shaadi for 30 minutes and were offering him a fat amount of Rs 2 crore for it.

While it’s not unusual to hear of actors being approached to make appearances at weddings and events, what is surprising is that Ranveer declined the offer. Reason: He has started shooting for his next, Gully Boy, and felt that this would distract him from the shoot.

Our source elaborates, “Ranveer is a perfectionist when he is shooting and concentrates on the minutest details as part of his prep for the character he plays. For him to pull off this appearance would mean him wrapping up the shoot (he is shooting from 6 am to 6 pm every day for Zoya’s film), flying to a different city and returning the same night to report to the set at the crack of dawn the following day. Doing that, he wouldn’t have got any time to rest. So, he told his team that he would like to concentrate on performing his role better than focus on the money offered and asked them to decline it.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; April 21, 2016)


Says a source in the know, “Ranveer charged Rs 2 crore, a little less than what Shah Rukh Khan charges, for every stage performance. And since he performed at almost every stage performance this season, you can easily figure out how much money he accrued through his live shows at the awards this year.”

According to sources, Ranveer’s equity has “shot through the sky” after his film beat the collections of Shah Rukh Khan’s film. One can expect another financial boom in the young actor’s career as he is all set to star again in Sanjay Bhansali’s next along with SRK this time.

Last year, they clashed at the box-office. This year, they will cash in at the B-O together.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 1, 2014)


The spokesperson for Eros International, the film’s producer, confirms, “It’s finally a Rs 100-crore project because of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. We followed a similar deal in Ram Leela too where the director didn’t take a fee upfront and chose to take a share in the profits instead. Hence, Ram Leela’s overall production cost ended up being Rs 60 crore. Worldwide, it grossed more than Rs 200 crore.”

With the rising fees of stars, filmmaking has become an even more expensive affair and studios have begun looking for new business models. Makers like Eros Entertainment were keen to cut down production costs for big-budget projects and have instead invited the director and actors to share in fees rather than take an upfront fee. This makes sense, because if you’re charging for star power, you ought to take responsibility when that power fails. Naturally, this arrangement is not to the liking of all actors.