A rumour has gone out that director Atlee's proposed movie with actor Salman Khan has been called off. Atlee reportedly quoted a budget of Rs 500 Cr, shocking the financiers of the film. The financiers don't want to fund a Salman movie whose costs are obscenely high.
The news has brought into question the commercial potential of Bollywood. Telugu films like Pushpa 2 and the upcoming Mahesh Babu-SS Rajmouli movie have budgets upwards of Rs 500 Cr. Even Game Changer's budget was ridiculously high owing to inordinate delays. When a Ram Charan movie could be made at a cost of about Rs 300-350 Cr, why not make a Salman film at Rs 500 Cr? Probably, Bollywood has given up on high-budget movies in the face of shocking failures in recent years.
A Netizen wrote that no producer is likely to spend Rs 500 Cr on any actor/director in Bollywood. Only actors who can command such a budget are Prabhas, Allu Arjun and Mahesh Babu. Even a Shah Rukh Khan movie or a Ranbir Kapoor starrer would make the producer circumspect despite Jawan and Pathaan and Animal.
