Guess Who: Actor’s Movie To Be Promoted As A Hit

Mumbai Mirror has published a blind item about the reason behind a superstar shelving his upcoming movie, which was to be directed by a top filmmaker.

This blind item has got several facts wrong. Firstly it is not a flop. The movie has recovered its investment & ahs amde profits for its makers. But for a movie to be declared a hit, the box office receipts have to be double the investments. So while the movie is not a hit, it is definitely not a flop. This was expected from the movie, which dealt with a taboo topic. Despite homosexuality being legalized in the country, it is yet to find acceptance among the country’s citizens. Many bollywood celebs openly mocked the movie for portraying gay love.

Blind Item

Some actors think that the more hits they give, the more entitled they are to hike their fees. While one acknowledges their part in the movie, they conveniently forget the fact that it’s also the story, director, banner and a host of other things which also contribute in the movie’s success. One such case is of the classy actor who has had a series of successes – except his last one, a quirky entertainer with a social message. While the movie failed to set the box-office ringing, the makers are desperately promoting it as a hit. Over the years, the classy actor has built up an enviable reputation of choosing the right scripts and overtaken many a top actor on the success chart. But his last release is proving a tough hurdle for him to overcome.

The classy actor is known to pick his scripts with success and is part of the talent pool, managed by a production house. Bollywood producers feel that it’s his managers who hike his fees so often. After his third and fourth success, his fee doubled and the hapless producers had no choice but to agree. But now his latest movie, a quirky entertainer, revolving around a social issue, proved to be a damp squib at the box-office and it’s very tough for him and his managers to accept that fact. The quirky social message and trailers failed to ignite that spark which his earlier movies have done and critics have panned it as a bad movie.

But the makers have been told to promote the movie as a hit (although it has not even crossed its production budget) as they want to increase the classy actor’s remuneration. In Bollywood, a flop film equals taking a cut in not only in a pay hike, but it means lesser brand endorsements and the actor has signed up some huge deals over the last couple of years – all thanks to his success.

The actor has forgotten the fact that he has earlier been part of two controversies revolving around his movies due to creative issues. While his performances have been laudable in all the movies, the script and directors have had equally strong roles to play. A few years earlier, he had a fallout with one of his mentors too who refused to give in to his pricey demands and stopped signing him for his home production.

Thanks to his new fee hike, the classy actor has also had a fallout with one of his directors. While the actor had, in principle, given his nod, to the director, known to make small budget, successful movies with a social message, after his last release, his attitude changed. His phone is unavailable to the director as are his dates. The announcement for the new movie was to come this month but now has got indefinitely postponed – for the moment. He is in talks with other studios to announce his next as the rift between the two appears to deepen day by day.

Right now, it’s a dead end as the actor wants more money and is plugging his quirky movie as a hit but the director, who knows his craft, is not willing to budge when he knows the truth. The studio, in question, has turned to other actors now while the director wants to announce his next with his favourite actress.

In Bollywood, things appear to get sorted in a jiffy, so we won’t be surprised if the classy actor and director patch-up and announce their next project in a couple of months. But one thing is clear, actors need to snap out their dream worlds and smell the coffee fast before others step into their shoes. Budgets make movies and not the stars.

Our Guess

Actor: Ayushmann Khurana

Actress: Taapsee Pannu