Karan Johar takes dig at ‘delusional actors’ and their salary demands, hopes Ayushmann, Vicky and Rajkummar are more sensible

By Vandana Srivastawa

on December 15, 2018

2018 has proved to be the year of Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Rajkummar Rao and content-driven cinema. Even though the public has lapped up to their acting and films, the big filmmakers who call the shots in Bollywood are still skeptical about them. Karan Johar, while talking to a leading film journalist’s annual discussion for her website said that some of these actors now have a swollen ego and are even delusional. He even went ahead and called them crazy for demanding paychecks in double digits.

Karan said that the actors demand a pay hike but can’t open a film. He said, “It is a disease. Everyone has it.” He stressed that just because an actor has delivered two hits, they think they are invincible. Karan explained further and said that is a flawed approach to filmmaking and “every film has a different scale” and the better option would be to “take a backend” deal without “pressurizing the film’s budget”. He said, “They’re all crazy! Crazy, with a capital ‘C’. They’re cuckoo, many of them. “Just because their two films do well suddenly it’s all me, myself and I. It gets exhausting to sit in a monetary discussion because they’re delusional.”

[caption id="attachment_180912" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Karan Johar[/caption]

Karan took a few names as well and named actors too. He said, “All these wonderful actors; Rajkummar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal; I hope they are solid and sensible about their monetary choices.” Each of the actors have had delivered box office hits this year and are reckoned to be the next big thing in the industry.

Karan even took a dig at celebrity management and said that most of them don’t know how the industry works and give unsound advice to new actors. Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur also seconded Karan’s take and said, “Who is a star? A star is someone who regardless of the type of film they’re in is going to guarantee you that day one. Thugs of Hindostan broke box office records on its first day because of Aamir Khan’s star power. its downward spiral was based on the content.”

[caption id="attachment_154222" align="aligncenter" width="647"] Ayushmann Khurrana with Vicky Kaushal on Karan Johar's chat show Koffee With Karan[/caption]

Looks like the new actors can’t sit back on their laurels and demand more money just because they give hits, they will have to trudge along and eat humbug. Interestingly, many years ago Karan and Kareena had a major fallout because she had demanded more money for one of the films that the filmmaker had offered her and later was done by another leading actress because Kareena did not bow down on her price.