Akshay Kumar walks away with Pad Man profits?

The PadMan team — Sony Pictures and KriArj Films — who collaborated with Akshay Kumar’s wife Twinkle Khanna to produce the film, are not really laughing all the way to the bank. The film has earned box-office revenues of approximately `70 crore rupees. The film’s budget was around Rs 40 crores, so that leaves KriArj and Sony Pictures with a profit-sharing edge of approximately Rs 30 crores. But the major share of the profits goes to the leading man, Akshay.

How? In lieu of a fixed remuneration, Akshay got the digital and satellite rights of PadMan. A source in the know says, “This means that Akshay goes home with a clean Rs 40 crores. Apparently, this will be his mode of accepting payment for all his assignments in future.” So while the producers look at the vagaries of the box-office for profits Akshay is certain to walk away with a fortune for each of his films.

A CEO of a corporate producing house laments the star mafia in Bollywood, “A handful of A-list actors are controlling every aspect of filmmaking, from its leading lady to its music and even the final editing. As far as their fee is concerned, they walk away with the satellite/television rights leaving the producers with only the profit margin from theatrical release. Yash Raj Films refused to work within the above pay scheme. But now, Salman Khan got satellite/television rights from Yash Raj before he agreed to finally do films for them.”