Covid-19 effect: Tamil actor Vijay Antony to reduce salary by ₹1 crore

Tamil actor Vijay Antony has announced a cut in remuneration of ₹1 crore for his upcoming three projects - Tamizharasan, Agni Siragugal and Khaki.

Tamil actor Vijay Antony on Tuesday, taking into consideration the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, has announced a cut in remuneration of ₹1 crore for his upcoming three projects.

Tamil actor Vijay Antony has take a salary cut due to coronavirus pandemic.

At present, Vijay Antony has three Tamil projects –Tamizharasan, Agni Siragugal and Khaki -- at various stages of production in his kitty. “As Tamil cinema got affected due to coronavirus lockdown from March 2020, the completion and releases of these three films were delayed by three months and by the time these films release, it may take another 3-4 months. Considering the loss that will be incurred by the producers of these three films and with a view to support them overcome from this situation, Vijay Antony came forward and offered 25% reduction in his salary for these films,” read a statement.

The 25% pay cut can be estimated to ₹1 crore per project.

Commenting on the actor’s magnanimous gesture to reduce salary, producer T. Siva said: “It is very kind of Vijay Antony to accept salary reduction considering the situation we are in due to the lockdown for over 50 days. We request that all actors and technicians should also come forward and accept reduced salaries so that the overall cost of all the current film producers reduces to tide over this crisis that all of us are facing currently.”

It has to be seen whether other actors will come forward and support this decision.

A producer, on the condition of anonymity, told Hindustan Times that all actors should be willing to reduce their salary. “It’s not going to be easy to return to normalcy when all this is over. It will take a while before a lot of producers would even think of going back to the sets. Keeping in mind the current scenario, every rupee saved would make a lot of difference. It will benefit a lot of producers if actors welcome the decision to reduce their salaries. It’s the need of the hour,” he said.

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