If money talks, then here’s what it says about cricketer MS Dhoni – he is a bigger star than Salman Khan. Proof of this lies in the fact that satellite rights for the Dhoni biopic (Dhoni: The Untold Story) have been sold for a higher price than any Salman Khan starrer.
An inside source close to Fox Star Studios spills the beans on the staggering financial arrangements around the making of the Dhoni biopic.
Says the source, “Dhoni was given Rs 45 crore for the movie-making rights to his life and access to personal information, documents and pictures, plus Dhoni’s availability for marketing and promotion of the film. In contrast Sushant Singh Rajput was paid Rs 2 crore to play Dhoni. In fact Dhoni’s business manager Arun Pandey, who is also a co-producer of the film, received much more money than Sushant. Pandey got Rs 5 crore.”
This very reliable source places the complete budget of Dhoni: The Untold Story at Rs 104 crore, and adds that the cost of making the film has already been recovered before the film’s release.
Says the source, “The satellite rights of Dhoni: The Untold Story have just been sold for Rs 55 crore which is Rs 5 crores more than what a Salman Khan starrer gets for satellite. Another Rs 20 crore has been recovered through various on-screen endorsements by Sushant Singh Rajput of products that Dhoni endorses . The music rights of the film have been sold at Rs 5 crore. And the overseas distribution rights have gone for Rs 10 crore.”
The source adds that the film has recovered another Rs 10 crore through international remake rights. “A Hollywood studio has bought the remake rights of Dhoni: The Untold Story from producer Neeraj Pandey and Fox Star Studios for Rs 10 crore. The film will be remade in English now. The Hindi version has already been dubbed in three other languages, Tamil , Telugu and Marathi. No matter how you look at it, it’s a win-win project for the makers.”
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