Tollywood undecided on cut in stars’ remuneration

The executive council of the Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA) of the Telugu film industry met on Monday to discuss the cost-cutting measures and cut in remuneration of the stars.

However, film personalities doubt if fee cut will be implemented as there is no unity among producers and many stars are kith and kin of top film producers.

Telugu film producers’ council has been proposing a 50 per cent cut in star remunerations since the past one week and has asked the MAA to discuss the matter before taking the final decision.

Several actors, including Balakrishna, Murali Mohan and Tarun, gathered at Jayabheri Club in Madhapur to discuss the issue.Stars and representatives of the MAA refused to divulge details of the discussions to the media after the meeting.

Producers claim that since more than 60 per cent of the film’s production cost is spent on fees, the actors should take pay cuts to save the crisis-ridden industry. “Stars like Junior NTR charge Rs 7 crore per film. Directors like Puri Jagannath and Rajamouli charge not less than Rs 5 crore. We get money on loan to make movies and the film is shot for more than a year. If the movie bombs, we go bankrupt. It is time, the fees are reduced substantially,” said a producer.

However, not a single Tollywood actor has declared that he is willing to take pay cut to reduce budget strain on the producer.

“The film industry tried to cut the fees of stars about a decade ago. But it didn’t work out as there was no unity among producers. Small producers are scared of stars and pay them whatever they demand. I doubt if it will be implemented at all,” said Jayasudha, MLA and vice-president of MAA.

A Filmnagar source said a few directors might pay the stars the same amount even if the producers’ council wants otherwise.