Star remuneration soars in regional cinema, producers face heavy losses

Despite a stream of hits such as Manjummel Boys, Aavesham and Premalu, Malayalam cinema that spent around Rs. 1000 crore in 2024, only made back close to Rs. 300 crore. (X)
Despite a stream of hits such as Manjummel Boys, Aavesham and Premalu, Malayalam cinema that spent around Rs. 1000 crore in 2024, only made back close to Rs. 300 crore. (X)

Summary

Regional film industries like Malayalam and Punjabi are facing challenges with skyrocketing star salaries, which have increased three to five times. Despite successful films, producers are struggling with high costs and losses due to reliance on star power and streaming platforms for profitability.

Bollywood has long been known for exorbitant star salaries, but trade experts say even smaller regional industries, such as Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, and Punjabi, are facing challenges with star remuneration rising three to five times in the last four years.

In regional markets, box office collections are largely driven by a select few star names. Moreover, streaming platforms prioritize titles featuring specific faces, allowing actors to demand inflated fees that eat into producers’ returns, even for successful films. 

Trade experts point out that despite hits like Manjummel Boys, Aavesham, and Premalu, Malayalam cinema, which spent nearly ₹1,000 crore in 2024, recovered only about ₹300 crore.

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“This is a universal problem and one that is common to every industry. When an actor becomes a star, around 50% of the overall budget of their films goes to their remuneration," independent trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai said. 

Balancing star power with financial viability

Pillai said that producers often prioritize stars believed to guarantee returns, without thoroughly evaluating the economic feasibility of their fees. Additionally, streaming platforms acquire regional films primarily when they feature recognizable faces, further inflating star demands.

“In smaller industries where budgets are much lower, it is anyway difficult to put projects together and there is no option but to bring a saleable star on board. In fact, other than varying degrees of star remuneration, the budget of most films in these industries would be the same," Pillai added. He, however, emphasized, that such stars can only do a maximum of two or three films per year, limiting annual returns.

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Film producer Yusuf Shaikh pointed out that it’s also not fair to expect top stars to settle for peanuts when they know the recovery runs into multiple crores. 

“It’s ultimately a matter of commercial benefit and actors have to capitalise on stardom when they know there is recovery on the table. And there are barely three stars per industry so there is interest from streaming platforms as well only for a few names. It’s not like they are buying 50 films per year per language," Shaikh explained.

While top stars in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu cinema command fees of ₹200-300 crore per film, actors from smaller industries like Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, and Bengali earn significantly less, with rates around ₹5-8 crore.

However, even these amounts can strain producers in industries with limited budgets, regional appeal, and restricted reach to a single state or select diasporic markets. Trade experts emphasize the need for investments in films with stronger box office potential, reduced reliance on streaming platforms, and profitability despite high star fees.

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“It is important for the theatrical business to bounce back and for filmmakers to start backing projects that they can reinforce faith in the theatrical system. Whenever theatrical recovery takes place, these smaller industries will be the first to benefit," film producer, trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar said.

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