Imran Khan may have taken a sabbatical from the movies, but he’s completely well updated with everything that’s happening around. Not to mention, he’s always been very candid and honest about his opinions. The actor who has never been allured by stardom also never followed the formulaic route and what he was told to do as a popular notion. He chose his own path. As he’s set to make his comeback, Imran has co-produced his upcoming film apart from acting in it. He’s teaming up with his ‘Break Ke Baad’ director Danish Aslam for a film co-starring Bhumi Pednekar. As we catch up with the actor for a rendezvous, he reveals that the film has been wrapped and the post-production is currently underway. Meanwhile, as we spoke about movies, Imran had revealed a while ago that actors are cast based on a film’s budget. When asked if that still exists and if he likes this system, Imran told ETimes, “There are two sides to this. On the one hand, I understand and it is absolutely valid that someone who has a bigger marquee value will bring more of a crowd bring more attention to a film than an actor who does not have that same draw. Certainly that makes sense. You would put more money on this actor than on that actor. I can I’ll invest a bigger budget. I’m trying to make this large scale action film needs a lot expense and so you need someone who can draw that. Absolutely that’s valid.” He added, “I believe that increasingly we have reached a place where stars exploit the system. What I was taught by my uncle, by Aamir. And I have seen in the generation that preceded me, in fact the several generations that preceded me, is that they would themselves invest in the film. I don’t mean that they are opening their wallet and putting money into the film but there’s a sense of taking personal responsibility and ownership of the film.” Imran further slammed this system and said, “If I have a sense that my film is going to cost 30 crores to make, that’s your cost of production. And I say I will charge 40 crores. So now your film costs 70 crores – Rs 30 crore of which is the actual film and Rs 40 crore is my personal salary. What is now our route to profitability? And do I care about that? I should care about it. It’s my film. I think that there is the potential for this film to be a decent film, take less money up front. Roll the dice. Take a gamble and bet that the film will do well. If anyone can afford to do that, it’s the star, if you’re commanding a salary of Rs 40 crore.” So, is that Aamir Khan’s approach for every film? “Consistently. This has always been his approach. He has never taken anything close to his value up front. He will take it at the back end. He’s not going to say give me Rs 60 crores as a fee, give me Rs 75 crores as a fee. That is foolishness. You are handicapping your own film. You’re exploiting your film and you are enriching yourself personally at the cost of the film. This what it is. It is essentially that you don’t actually have faith or belief in the film.” He further explained, “It’s like ‘who knows what kind of garbage you’re going to make. Give me my money, get out of my way. I got my money, now who cares about the film? It’s an attitude that I don’t care for. And I believe that anyone who is in a starring position, upon whose back a film is being funded and financed. If they are not in the position of enough financial security to gamble on the success and the quality of the film, then who else can gamble?”
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