Pay-for-performance model hooks Bollywood

ENTERTAINMENT

Sivaji is playing in 900 theatres across the globe and all available indications suggest that the film, which costs Rs 80 crore, is well on its way to rake in Rs 250 crore in the first four weeks itself. That's fabulous news for AVM Productions, the producer of the film.

Another person who would be busy counting the profits is Rajnikanth, the 58-year old 'emperor' of Tamil films. The megastar had charged a fixed remuneration of Rs 16 crore but will also get a hefty share (40 per cent as per the grapevine) of the profits that Sivaji will ultimately make.

Welcome to the world of variable pay in the Indian film industry. So far restricted to the corporate sector, this form of remuneration is slowly making its presence felt in Bollywood as well.

The reigning kings of Bollywood have been swift to follow Rajnikanth "" Aamir Khan, for example, has asked for a 25 per cent share in the total box office collections of his forthcoming film Lajjo.

But it's not the marquee names alone that are insisting on a pay-for-performance model. Consider the sensational Bheja Fry, which was made with a budget of Rs 55 lakh as the cast and crew of the film didn't take a penny and agreed to profit-sharing as their only remuneration.

It was a prudent move as Bheja Fry has reportedly made a Rs 10 crore profit already. More importantly, it has ensured that a deluge of such small-budget films will be made using the variable pay model. Film observers say the model will soon go beyond the leading actors to others such as music composers, choreographers, lyricists, writers, technicians and even spot boys.

The UK film industry has been adopting this unusual financing package for sometime now. For example, the film adaptation of The History Boys, a hugely successful play on Broadway, found financing hard to come by.

The producers then reduced the budget for the film by more than a half, with the entire cast working for a minimal fee. In exchange, everyone was allocated a share in future profits. The film turned out to be a hugely profitable venture for everyone involved.

Leading film-makers such as Vidhu Vinod Chopra has already decided to stop contracting people and pays actors based on the success of the movies. This allows him to make movies at a reasonable cost and his experience is there are quite a few good actors who are willing to go in for variable pay.

That's a model Hollywood had embraced long back as it assures the artists that they would get paid handsomely in case of the film's success. Dominant forces in the Hollywood hierarchy such as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks command 20 per cent of the slice of the gross theatrical revenue and video earnings of their films as full partners with their studios.

Films such as Sivaji and Bheja Fry may belong to two different worlds, but they signify a key twist in the script: Indian films are structuring finance in a way that would reward talent in proportion to its contribution.