Bollywood becoming star dependent: Prasoon Joshi

Bollywood stars are raking in the moolah thanks to the film industry becoming star dependent with sole objective of recovering the investment, feels lyricist and ad guru Prasoon Joshi.

Bollywood stars are raking in the moolah thanks to the film industry becoming star dependent with sole objective of recovering the investment, feels lyricist and ad guru Prasoon Joshi.

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The growth in fees charged by actors like Salman Khan and Akshay kumar has been phenomenal. They have reportedly been charging several crores.

Explaining the reason behind this recent surge in actor's fees, Joshi says, "The industry has become star dependent. Everyone wants recovery of his investment and working with stars becomes the safe bet".

Prasoon, known for his soulful lyrics, also sees lack of good scripts as one of the reasons, along with 'playing safe' attitude of filmmakers. "No body wants to take the risk" he rues.

"There is more and more money coming in the market ever since the corporate world has entered the world of cinema," says the lyricist who won Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for 2007 and 2008 consecutively.

"Also, the actors are aware of the fact that they can ask for more money" he adds.

Not only the biggies but the newcomers are also playing in crores. One flop film old Ranbir Kapoor, who is currently working with the big-wigs of the industry, charges around Rs 3 crores, if film industry sources are to be believed.

"No hard work and aiming for quick money seems to have become the motto of filmmakers at the moment," says Joshi.

Many stars have more than trippled their price since 2000, fully cashing their 'bankable' image. But Joshi hopes that this 'vicious circle' is just a passing phase and would soon be over. "At a point of time, people will be fatigued and would crave for a change".

He suggests that apart from actors, money should also reach to all the technicians involved in filmmaking to improve the quality of films.

Film critic Taran Adrash also agrees that costs have shot up at present. "Lakhs is a passe. Everybody is talking in crores now". However, he has something different to say as well. "As long as there is money available in the market and its being recovered as well, who cares". He also dismisses the argument that the recent trend of offering the deals to actors can bring down quality of films being made.