3 weeks ago
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Veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai has voiced strong concerns about the financial mismanagement plaguing Bollywood. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the growing trend of paying actors a large chunk of the budget. The filmmaker even called out the shift in filmmaking from passion-driven projects to corporate interests that prioritize profit over creativity.
Subhash Ghai on inflating movie budgets
Speaking to Komal Nahta on Game Changers, Ghai remarks, “When you can make a film for Rs 100 but choose to make it for Rs 1,000, remember that many people will be eager to siphon money from the remaining Rs 900. Once we had collaborators, now there is mere divisions of labour. There are multiple departments today, each with its own agenda. However, not a single person is working with the goal of completing the project within the agreed-upon budget. Earlier, our vision was to make small but good films.”
Commenting on unnecessary surge in actor’s fees, he said, “We never paid stars more than 10-15 per cent of a film’s budget. Today, actors are taking home nearly 70 per cent.”
Reflecting on his decision to establish Mukta Arts, Ghai emphasized, “I started it to bring discipline. We made 43 films and not a single one went over budget. We also made a profit on all of them, primarily because we maintained financial discipline. Earlier, we considered films to be like God and we, the makers, were merely human. We became gods only if our films succeeded. Now, it doesn’t matter whether a movie succeeds or not — it belongs to someone else and those in the studio are simply making money among themselves.”
Subhash Ghai on actors-turning producers
When asked whether actors donning the hat of producers was a positive or negative trend, Subhash Ghai recalled that legendary stars like Devika Rani, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor were also producers. “However, they understood the mathematics and grammar of filmmaking. But today, when an actor receives a script and likes it, their talent manager often says, ‘How will we do it? It’s a small-budget film. Your usual salary is Rs 50 crore and this film’s total budget is just Rs 40 crore. Let’s do one thing, become the producer.’ So, they partner with the producer, take Rs 25 crore from the film’s budget and another Rs 25 crore as a partner. This is wrong. If it’s a small movie, take a smaller fee”.
Do you agree with the filmmaker? Do let us know……
