Aamir denies Rs. 2 crore reduction

By: Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Fanaa continues to hit headlines! This time it's the front-page story carried by a leading newspaper that's the talk of town. According to the news-report, Aamir Khan has asked Fanaa producer Aditya Chopra to deduct Rs. 2 crores from his paycheck since the film hasn't released in Gujarat and the actor wants to compensate the producers [who also happen to be the distributors] for the non-release in the state.

The said news-report never quoted Aamir, but the lightening speed with which the desk-job specialists lifted the story from the newspaper and carried similar stories on non-descript websites makes you wonder whether they actually know what they're reporting.

It's a known fact that the remuneration of the actors is settled and cleared before the deliveries are effected to various distributors of the film, by way of lab letters. Translated in simple terms, it means that the balance fees reach the actors much before the prints of the film are delivered to the distributors by the laboratory. In fact, all accounts [at least of actors] are settled before the release of a film in any part of the world.

If one were to believe the news-report, it only implies that Aamir is yet to collect his money from the producers [Yash Raj] even though the film has already released and he would now get Rs. 2 crores less from his paycheck. Does it mean that Aamir hasn't collected his fees yet, even after the film has released? Even if it were an April Fool joke, I doubt if anyone in the industry would take such talks seriously.

"It's absolutely untrue," Aamir denies the news-report completely, "There was no discussion between Adi [Aditya Chopra] and me over the reduction in remuneration. Never have I broached the topic, nor did he hint at it. In fact, that's [the fees] not even the issue right now. I was myself taken aback when I read the news-report."

Moral of the story: It's important to get the facts right, but it's much more important to know the facts in the first place.