Every Bollywood actor tries to up his or her fee post the success of their latest outing at the box-office. While some actors like Alia Bhatt (post Raazi and Gully Boy) or Deepika Padukone (post Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat), who are riding at the peak of their success, are in a position to get what they ask for, others try various means to spread the perception of a fee hike. Post Manikarnika, news is that Kangana Ranaut is now trying to send out the message that she won’t be available below a set amount of remuneration any longer.
Kangana’s PR team has been put to work to send across the message that the actor is charging no less than Rs 24 crore for the recently announced biopic on the late Tamil Nadu political leader and actor Jayalalithaa. The communication credits Kangana as being the highest paid actress in India. Titled Thalaivi in Tamil and Jaya in Hindi, the film will be directed by AL Vijay. While interacting with the media recently, Kangana said that the Jayalalithaa biopic would be made in Tamil and released in Hindi as well. The actor will be specially learning Tamil for the film.
While there is no official confirmation of whether Kangana will be paid Rs 24 crore for the Jayalalithaa biopic, fact is that the actor’s last film Manikarnika was not a huge box-office success. Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 124 crore (including prints and publicity) the film can be termed as an average box-office success as it managed to cross the Rs 100 crore mark at the box-office only in its fourth week.
Before Manikarnika, Kangana Ranaut has had a hattrick of flops in the form of Simran, Rangoon and Katti Batti, which doesn’t exactly make her a darling of the box-office. Fact is that the actor is lately known for her performances off-screen rather than her roles on-screen. Also, the controversies that seem to surround every recent film that Kangana has been involved in hasn’t made her very popular in the industry either. From her cold war with Saif and Shahid during Rangoon, to her fallout with the makers of Simran to her clash with the director of Manikarnika over the directorial credit - Kangana has created a perception of not being easy to work with.
While neither the makers nor Kangana Ranaut herself is likely officially confirm the actor’s fee for the Jayalalithaa biopic, it is unlikely that the producers will dole out Rs 24 crore at this point as Kangana’s remuneration.
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