Actors accept giving away Caravans

By: Settu Shankar
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Finally, both the producers and actors have reached an amicable settlement over the issue of reducing salary for the actors.

Many times the producers and distributors have raised their voice to cut down the high salary paid to the heroes. Producers like KRG and others have openly criticized the heroes as being the main reason for the loss in a film. To take necessary action, the producers had a meeting a few days ago, to discuss reducing fee for actors and how to reduce unwanted expenses during shooting. Finally they decided to stop hiring caravans for the stars at the cost of the producers. If the actors or the actresses want to hire a caravan, they can pay for the cost thus incurred from their own salary.

Using caravan costs about Rs.5000 per day. When a hero gives a call sheet for 60 days, the expense incurred on his behalf alone amounts to about 3 lakhs. Caravans are also used for the heroine, villain and comedian. Due to this decision, a producer can save upto 15-20 lakhs per film. It depends on the number of call sheet days given by a star for a film.

According to Ramanarayanan, President of Producers Association, "This is the first step in reducing the cost of production of a film. I know there are many other expenses to be cut down. The association would also think about simplifying the lavishness in printing invitations for pooja, grand inaugural ceremonies of films, audio releases etc. We will take further measures to reduce expenses and we hope all our members will co-operate with us."