There are three types of actors. One, who becomes an actor to gain fame, adulation and make lots of money. Second one, who is all about wanting to be an actor and just act – nothing more. Third one, who wants to act and make money as well. There is also this category of actors, who decided they want to become actors just because they get inspired by a favourite actor and also because they think that they are good-looking enough to be actors. The actor in the blind item below belongs to the last category. This is where the problem lies with this type of actors. They are in it for the fame and money, they don’t realise that by getting greedy and charging a bomb for their films, their films might just end up bombing at the box office.

It’s why there has been this ongoing epidemic of small budget films with newcomers or artsy actors that do well while films of big stars are failing at the box office. It’s also why the movies of Mr. Perfectionist aka Fatty’s Sugapapa has been doing well. He has figured out a way not to compromise with his films’ at the box office. He stopped charging and started out a situation for himself where if his films do well, he makes money and if his films fail, he doesn’t get a single penny. It is fair for him because he knows that his films rest on his shoulders and he really does invest his all in the making of his films.

Agreed that most actors can’t work the way he does, but that does not mean that they should be charging a bomb. Take Raymond, for example. He has publicly said over and over again that he is arrogant about his talent, which is why he charges a whooping 36 – 38 crore for each film. Whether he is doing a big budget film or a small one, this fee of his does not help the film’s outcome at the box office in any way. His father has also decided that he should get some of the film’s profits as well. Ironically since then, none of his films have worked at the box office. Why not just burn the producer’s money instead? It will be easier and save them from the embarassment of faking their film’s box office earnings!

Then, there is this other actor, who’s mission whenever he announces a new film of his is to show how much he is getting paid for it. He wants to prove that he is still in demand and that producers and directors are willing to pay him whatever he wants. He wants what he is worth. If that was truly the case, why does not he charge when he acts in his father’s films?

Can’t really blame this on newcomers or outsiders and say it’s because they don’t know how things work, even star kids do this. It seems all they want is money, money and money.

Sure, their talent is worth something but is it really worth drowning their own careers? Think about it. If they are really passionate about acting, then they should be considerate. This reminds us of an actor, who said “I don’t want to make films to watch in my living room!” He’s trying to say that he doesn’t want to make movies that no one will find interesting to watch, he wants to make movies that the audience will go crazy for.

In the meantime, check out the blind item below from Rajeev Masand.

Bollywood Blind Item

The Price of Being Overpaid

A certain young actor—until recently regarded as the most promising ‘outsider’ in Bollywood—managed to land a whopping acting fee for a new film he signed with a former studio head who was setting up his own production shingle. It’s a ‘modest budget’ project helmed by a highly regarded indie director, but the actor nevertheless managed to squeeze out a Rs 7 crore cheque from the producer, who, in his hurry to set up a slate of films, may have grossly overpaid.

The problem is that the actor has one mega-sized dud behind him, and despite a few potentially profitable projects on the anvil, some of his sheen appears to have worn off. An action flick he’s made with a top banner is getting mediocre reports, while another project ran into financial trouble and needed to be ‘rescued’ by the same producer.

Insiders are saying the actor needs a hit to bounce back into the reckoning. The ones in his corner are his directors, particularly the one who gave him his debut film and is working with him on his most ambitious project right now. This bullish filmmaker is convinced that his star is only facing a rough patch and has been swearing to anyone willing to listen that his performance in the movie he’s making will bring both revenues and accolades.

OSOP Guesses

Young Actor: Sushant Singh Rajput

Dud: Raabta

Filmmaker: Abhishek Kapoor

Action Flick: Drive

Producer: Ronnie Screwvala