India’s most iconic Film Production House the RK Films drew its curtain by selling the RK Studios to Godrej Properties. Ranbir Kapoor the youngest member of RK clan does not seem to continue filmmaking. Likewise, the plight of many top Film Production companies like V Shantaram‘s Rajkamal Studios, Wadia Brothers Basant Studios, AR Kardar‘s Kardar Studios and Kamal Amrohi‘s Kamalistan Studios are all in shambles. Besides, even the plight of eminent film producers like Gemini Pictures, AVM Films, or top film producers that made timeless classics like Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy, S Mukerjee, B.R. Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Rajkumar Santoshi, Sooraj R. Barjatya, etc have taken a backseat and in place, the top actors have taken the reins of film production.
A trend is emerging in Bollywood and regional cinema: top actors are becoming co-producers. Instead of charging hefty fees they are now becoming partners in film’s profits. From Aamir Khan to Shah Rukh Khan to Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, are all now racing to become producers.
The trend is visible even in regional cinema. In the South film industry top actors Kamal Haasan, Dhanush, Mahesh Babu, Nagarjuna, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Sudeep, etc are working as co-producers. Even in Bhojpuri films, top actors Manoj Tiwari or Pawan Singh, and others have turned producers.
The Rise Of Trends
The reason why the trend is becoming a success is that it is a win-win situation for both the film studio (investing money) as well as the actors. The understanding between the actor and studio is generally 50% share of the profit. Today, films often earn over Rs 100 crore, so actors’ shares exceed Rs 20-25 crore. If a film fails, the studio avoids paying a hefty acting fee. For actors, one or two losses don’t matter; they recover income from other successful films.
Vikram Malhotra Shares Some Insights
Vikram Malhotra, CEO of Viacom18 Motion Pictures, explains the sharing modus operandi between the actor and the studio. He says, “In film production, the biggest chunk of money is taken away by the film actor. He takes almost 35 percent of the total film cost. Hence with actors becoming a co-producer, the studio’s major burden of the financial component is reduced. If the film is a success then both the actor and the studio are happy.”
He informs, “Nevertheless, in case, a film is a flop, the studio recovers his loss from the various Satellite rights, TV rights, and Music rights. Also, these days there is a wide range of tie-up with multiple brands. These brands pay a whopping amount to film producers. Thus the studio manages to pull through a flop film.” He added, “the survival is possible only because the actor’ is a co-producer hence the studio is saved from paying the huge fee of the actor.”
Read – The Era when Producers ruled Cinema –Part -2
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