As we were discussing in the other writeup on how scrapping of Rs.500 and 1000 notes can affect the Telugu film industry, the major victims will be our star heroes. To all our knowledge, a film producer has to necessarily invest 60% of his project cost only on hero, heroine and supporting cast remunerations. Among them, heroes take a lion share from Rs. 10, 15 to 20, 25 Crores fees. To be more specific; Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arjun and Junior NTR are the frontrunners.
None of our producers would love to pay these fees in white. Except a mere 15 to 30% of the remuneration transactions made through cheques or wire transfers, remaining everything goes unaccountable. Modi has hit down the stomach on such heroes. For example, how will DVV Danayya pay Rs.25 Crores (new currency notes) salary to Mahesh for his new movie launched today?
First option available is, get into the tax net and pay income tax for every rupee accordingly or else slash your remuneration helping the producer. Financiers pumping their black money into Tollywood from various regions in Telugu states also won’t find the way easy going. At least for next four to five years, Telugu cinema budgets, collections should appear more transparent.