Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS) Producer Boney Kapoor once shared how he ended up increasing his late wife, Sridevi’s fees from 10 Lakh per movie to 25 Lakh per movie with a simple trick.
As the filmmaker appeared on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’, he shared how he offered to pay Sridevi 11 lakhs for ‘Mr India’ when her mother asked for only 10 lakhs. However, Boney has kept one condition, which played a significant role in increasing Sridevi’s remuneration per movie.
Boney shared, “We were shooting in a bungalow in Ruia Park. So I went to Chennai to meet her mom. We started talking. She didn’t know Hindi or English. But my communication skills were so perfect that I could understand her gestures. So she said, ‘Pappi, price INR 10 rupees. INR 10 rupees meant INR 10 lakhs. I had done some research and inquired in the market as to how much Sridevi charged for her last film. At that time, she had signed the last film for INR 8.5 lakhs. So I thought, ‘She signed for INR 8.5 lakhs; I’ll give her 9. When she said, ‘10 rupees’, I said, ‘No’. So she froze for 10 seconds. I said, ‘I’ll pay 11’. After that, she froze for 15 seconds. She then said, ‘The staff money is separate, INR 30,000 rupees’. So I said, ‘No, I’ll pay 50,000’. So, I gave her 11 lakhs.
However, there was a condition that they would charge INR 15 lakhs for Sridevi’s next film.
Her mother said, ‘Who will pay INR 15 lakhs. So I spoke to Yash Chopra and made her sign ‘Chandni’ for INR 15 lakhs. So they were happy.”
When Boney went to speak with Sridevi’s mother for the next film, he applied the same trick.
The producer recalled their conversation, saying, “She said, “For you, 14’. I said, ‘Why? I’ll pay INR 16 lakhs. But on one condition: next film, she has to sign for INR 25 lakhs. She said, ‘Who will give 25?’. So, in ‘Khuda Gawah’, she was paid INR 25 lakhs”.
–IANS
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