Even before Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan could think, this superstar didn’t charge his fee but took share in profits

The Hindi film industry aka Bollywood has seen the emergence of a new model lately. The lead actors are also turning the producers of their films. They don’t charge any acting fees but take share in the film’s business and profit.

The need of profit sharing

Recently, Aamir Khan in one of his interviews, said, “Pichle 20-21 saal se main fee nahi leta film karne ki. Toh agar aapko film pasand aati hai toh main kamata hoon, aur agar nahi, toh main bhi nahi kamata (I don’t take my fee since 20-21 years. If you like my film, I earn money, and if you don’t then I don’t earn money.)”

He also said, “If the production is mounted at Rs 200 crore and the star charges a hefty fee, how will the film recover its cost if it flops?”

This is a valid question because budgets flop, not the production. There have been films which are made at a smart budget and then perfect distribution made them hit commercially despite the content not being so loved. 

Rise of superstars 

In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Bollywood saw the emergence of superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar. They became bigger than their projects and started charging huge amount as remuneration. This made the producers compromise on the quality of films. Eventually, good projects with relatively smaller business potential started drifting away from these stars, so they decided to change the tact and came on board as producers.

Rajesh Khanna’s original method

Rajesh Khanna was one of the early exponents of this business approach. When he was cast in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand (1971), he was at the peak of his stardom, but he didn’t charge Mukherjee acting fee. Rather, he asked for the film’s distribution rights. He made good money from Anand, which was way above the possible acting fee. 

READ | Hania Aamir radiates Shantipriya vibes from Om Shanti Om in a breathtaking gold gown