That time is money, is a fact acknowledged everyone in business. So, in an industry which is getting increasingly professionalised, indisciplined actors are taxing for producers, directors and the crew working on the sets in terms of money and time. This is a fact across all Hindi, Tamil and Telegu cinema. But for years the film industry has preferred to keep mum about such stars.
However, there are some brave ones who appear to be attempting a reversal, at least in Tollywood. A classic example is the action taken by the Telugu Film Producers Council (TFPC) against character actor Prakash Raj for alleged indiscipline.
Prakash Raj, a Kannadiga by origin, has acted in over 130 movies and produced 10 movies in his 20 years in the industry. He has acted in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi cinema. At present, his remuneration is said to range between Rs 30 to Rs 40 lakh per movie.
According to the action taken by the TFPC, Raj has been banned from signing any new Tollywood projects. Producers claim they have suffered huge losses as the actor would not stick to the committed dates and time schedules. Some specific cases of films which have suffered because of this are Telegu films, Jalsa, Parugu and Kantri.
“The movies were delayed because of Raj’s indiscipline and several other actors were forced to change their schedules because of his casual approach. The loss due to this would have aggregated to at least 2 crore,” said an industry source. In fact, Prakash Raj was replaced by another actor in Telugu movie Atidhi.
According to TFPC estimates, the delay in the release of a movie leads to Rs 30 to Rs 40 lakh loss per month in terms of interest for big movies, while it would be around Rs 10 lakh for small movies. Factoring all aspects such as re-schedules, the aggregate loss could be between Rs 20 crore and Rs 30 crore across the film industry in India annually according to an industry estimate.
For Raj, this is perhaps a situation that the actor is familiar with. Two years ago, he had faced a similar ban and the issue was settled only after the actor went on a hunger strike and tendered an apology. Of course then he had some support from his fans as well.
This time round, it is learnt Raj declined to meet representatives of TFPC when he was called in for discussions. “I think whenever he gets a handful of offers, he tries to test the market this way. I think he has enough offers in Tamil movies at present,” says a representative of the TFPC.
For the TFPC, as President TFPC, Tammareddy Bharadwaja explains, “This is just to regulate the actor as there are many complaints pending against Raj. We do have complaints against other actors as well but we have resolved almost all across the table.”
But Prakash Raj is not the only actor with a reputation for indiscipline. Tollywood hero Rajasekhar was also a regular latecomer, but corrected his behaviour, according to industry sources. Bollywood star Govinda, was famous for the same but his new track record shows, he has apologised for the same. “I know I have been unpunctual for years. Now, I have made punctuality a part of my career,” he said while shooting for Salam-E-Ishq.
But not all actors are a nightmare for producers. The big boys like Amitabh Bachchan, NT Rama Rao, Chiranjeevi, Hrithik Roshan and Kamal Hasan are legendary for their punctuality on sets and popular with producers. Maybe they should impart some timely advice to their colleagues.
