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‘Karan Johar, you just have to stop paying’: Zoya Akhtar echoes issue of rising entourage costs of A-listers; Find out how KJo reacted
Zoya Akhtar looped in Karan Johar while talking about the rising star entourage debate and told the latter to stop paying so that the male actors can stop asking for such huge remuneration.
Basic economics– Supply equals demand. Zoya Akhtar had a lesson to teach filmmaker Karan Johar over rising entourage costs as both filmmakers sat in a roundtable hosted by The Hollywood Reporter India. Zoya made sure to make others and KJo understand that the time when filmmakers stop paying high fees (supply revenue), their fees (demand) will automatically go down.
“They are not going to know. But Karan, you have to just stop paying. You have to stop paying. That's it,” Zoya said out loud, making Karan Johar clarify that he has actually stopped doing that lately. He gave an example of his latest release Kill and said that he took a newcomer and invested his money in the film’s high-concept action.
He added, “I've started doing it. You could not make Kill in any other way. It had to be on that train. Every star asked me for the same money that the budget was for. I was like, ‘How can I pay you? When the budget is ₹40 crore, you’re asking for ₹40 crore? Are you guaranteeing the film will do ₹120 crore? There's no guarantee, right? So finally, I took a new boy, and he was an ‘outsider,’ I have to say it.”
The director further asserted that makers can count 6 viable actors and the number of movies being made in a year is 200, so in this case, recutting the same pie for empowering young faces is the most suitable bid. Zoya Akhtar jumped in to argue that it should be the technical crew that deserves a handsome payment instead of male actors who are taking away almost 70% of the budget.
KJo further revealed how even some younger male stars have started to ask for ₹40 crore with no risk or responsibility in terms of their acting choices. The filmmaker’s Kill was a launch pad for Lakshya who was earlier supposed to debut with KJo’s now-shelved Dostana 2. Directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, and co-produced by Dharma Productions and Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, it also starred Raghav Juyal, Tanya Maniktala, and Ashish Vidyarthi in key roles.
A Hollywood adaptation of Kill has already been announced by John Wick director Chad Stahelski and Lionsgate.
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