Shah Rukh Khan waived Deool Band 2’s ₹42 lakh bill; makers donate profits to children of farmers who died by suicide

Pravin Tarde remains incredibly thankful to Shah Rukh Khan who threw his weight behind a film that had no guarantee of success.

The success of Deool Band 2 is turning out to be about much more than its impressive box office run. With the Marathi film nearing the ₹100 crore mark worldwide, director Pravin Tarde has revealed that the makers are giving away all the profits made after recovering the film's production cost. The money is being used to help children of farmers who died by suicide in Maharashtra, particularly with their education and daily needs.

Shah Rukh Khan helped Deool Band 2 when it struggled to release; makers now donate entire profit after ₹100 cr success.

The film's profits are helping children

Pravin Tarde, who has roots in a farming family, spoke about the initiative in an interview with Pinkvilla. He said the team wanted the film’s success to reach families who have been deeply affected by the hardships faced by farmers in Maharashtra. “What made Deool Band 2 a unique film across India? The film earned ₹100 crore. We only took the production cost for ourselves. However, every single penny that we earned from that film as profit was donated,” he said.

The funds are being used to support children from drought-hit parts of Maharashtra who lost their parents to farmer suicides. The makers hope the support will help them stay in school and continue their education without the burden of financial struggles. “We donated it to the kids of the farmers who died by suicide. It was donated with the intention that they could resume their education. We started distributing money to kids belonging to drought-hit areas of Maharashtra,” he explained.

The team is also providing two meals a day to nearly 250 children with the money earned from the film. Pravin said they plan to keep the initiative going in the coming years and thanked producer Kailash Vani for backing the effort.

Deool Band 2 was made on a modest budget

Made on a reported budget of just ₹8-10 crore, Deool Band 2 has turned into a major box office success. The film opened at ₹2.89 crore and continued to gain momentum as audiences responded positively to the film. Reportedly, Deool Band 2 has earned ₹91.50 crore worldwide, with another ₹6.55 crore coming from international markets and ₹2.45 crore from tent shows.

Shah Rukh Khan helped the film reach theatres

The road to release was far from smooth for Deool Band 2. Tarde recently shared that the film was in a difficult spot before its theatrical release, with the makers struggling to manage the cost of its Digital Cinema Package (DCP). The situation was eventually resolved after Shah Rukh Khan stepped in.

According to Pravin, the makers were asked to pay ₹42 lakh to Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment for the DCP, a format required to screen the film digitally in theatres. The team had initially estimated the expense at around ₹12 lakh, leaving them with a much bigger bill than they had planned for.

Speaking to Abhijat Marathi Filmy, he recalled approaching Red Chillies Entertainment and explaining that they were working with a tight budget but wanted to give the Marathi film a wide theatrical release. “The bill came to ₹42 lakh. We didn't have that kind of money, nor did we have any source from where we could arrange it. We approached Red Chillies and explained our situation. We told them that it was a Marathi film, a regional film, and our budget was limited. But we wanted to release it on a large scale and requested their support,” he had said June 2026.

The issue eventually reached Shah Rukh Khan. His team knew the makers from Mulshi Pattern, which was later remade as Antim with Salman Khan. When Khan was told that the DCP was ready but the makers were struggling to clear the payment, he decided to step in and help. "He simply said, 'Waive off their bill.' He told them, 'It's a Marathi film. Give them the DCP. We can sort out the payments later. If it's a good film, give them the DCP.' They showed tremendous respect towards Marathi cinema. For him, the film was more important than the money," Pravin recalled.

He credited Shah Rukh Khan for taking a massive gamble on the team when the movie's future was still a giant question mark. He shared that while everyone is applauding the film now as it nears the ₹100-crore club, but the superstar's true impact happened behind the scenes when the project had zero hype. He remains incredibly thankful that the superstar threw his weight behind a film that had no guarantee of success, a move he says he will never forget.

Deool Band 2 carries a larger social message

Deool Band 2, the spiritual follow-up to the 2015 film, brings together questions of faith and atheism while also addressing the painful reality of farmer suicides. The film stars Mohan Joshi and Snehal Tarde, with Mangesh Desai, Sanskruti Balgude, Devendra Gaikwad and Pravin Tarde in key roles.