Up above the world so high: Have stars gone out of reach for filmmakers?

The question becomes more pertinent at a time when some non-star vehicles are raking it in, most notably 12th Fail

Ashok Kumar is widely recognised as Hindi cinema’s first superstar, a status he gained with Kismet (1943), which earned a reported Rs 1.1 crore to be labelled the first Hindi blockbuster. Before he became an actor, Kumar was a lab technician at Bombay Talkies, and continued to be on a monthly salary as an actor.

Contrast that to what Karan Johar said on Faye D’Souza’s YouTube channel on July 5.

“There are 10 viable actors in Hindi cinema. They are all asking for the sun and moon and earth and you are paying them. Those movie stars are asking