Killer costs burn pockets

One of the most anticipated films of the year, Agent, directed by Surender Reddy, bombed at the box office. Critics and the audience have slammed the film.

Anil Sunkara, one of the producers of the spy thriller, admitted it was a mistake to start the film without a bound script. He also mentioned the film was delayed many times due to COVID-19.

While some were appreciative of the producer for accepting responsibility, some gave him gyan and yet others lashed out at him, questioning how he attempted to make such an expensive film without a proper (bound) script, and that too with an actor (Akhil) who doesn’t command much of a market.

Huge financial stress

The buzz is that Agent was made on a budget of around '70 crore, but now the filmmakers may recover only 20 per cent of that amount.

The recently released Shakuntalam, starring Samantha, was made on a budget around '60 crore. But the costume drama was a colossal flop and one of the producers, Dil Raju, recovered only 10 per cent of the budget. The Ravi Teja-starrer Ravanasura was another big budget flim ('60 crore) but the action thriller tanked at the box office, giving room for only 10 per cent recovery.

Producer Abhishek Nama who made films like Ravanasura, Goodachari, etc., says that when they narrate a script to the hero, they all believe in it. However, “sometimes, what looks beautiful as a story on paper may not transform on screen the same way. There could be several reasons, including script changes, exceeding budget, artistes’ remuneration etc, But if the film fails, the financial burden is borne by the producer and that puts him under huge financial pressure. He is made the scapegoat,” he notes.

Ace writer and actor Thotapalli Madhu terms going to shoot without a script as a ‘costly mistake.’ As someone who has been in the industry for 40 years, he says that 80 per cent of the producers take scripts for granted. “Back in the 80s and 90s, around eight writers used to spend one-and-a-half years on the script.

But these days, producers only need money and dates of actors. Filmmaking has become like gambling,” says Madhu, adding that most producers are living dangerously.

Risky venture

There have been instances in the past of producers going bankrupt after their films failed miserably. Some even pledged their properties to compensate the buyers for the film’s loss.

Naga Babu went through such a phase after his Orange, starring Ram Charan, was a colossal flop. Ashwini Dutt experienced a similar fate after the Jr NTR-starrer Shakti bombed at the box office.

Chiranjeevi too, last year, after Acharya’s epic failure, expressed anguish. He said, “some directors are writing dialogues after coming to the sets!” Although the Megastar did not name anyone, it was understood that he was referring to Acharya director Koratala Siva.

“Everyone feels sorry for the producer. But this debate arises only when the budgets are exceeded. The producer should know how much to spend and spend only if the script warrants it,” screenwriter Gopi Mohan asserts. “If the baseline of the story itself is wrong and weak, no bound script can help,” he adds.

Heroes’ involvement

Producer Ram Talluri feels everyone in the unit should take collective responsibility and not just leave the producer to face the music. “A producer should be in a position to understand and justify why his film needs a whopping budget. And he needs to have clarity on the hero’s market size and spend accordingly. If we fail to do so, then the results will be disastrous,” he believes.

Abhishek feels that if the hero becomes part of the project, he will be more responsible.

In Hollywood when you ask a filmmaker about the status of the film, he says 90 per cent of the film is done (writing), and only 10 per cent (shooting) is left. That’s the importance given to the script. But it looks like many filmmakers in Tollywood are emulating Hollywood in all crafts except this approach of giving importance to the script.

'Producers today have no value'

The value a producer brings to the table is slowly being reduced. Earlier he was calling the shots because he was distributing the film — like collaborating with directors, getting the story ready, etc. But once the star and directors became bigger, the role of a producer has been merely reduced to proposal maker or project organiser. Since he is not bringing any value to the table, his role became less important, and he is also not given any value.  Why didn’t the hero ask for the bound script? Why did the producer not ask for the full script?

This means we went with the current flow where the system is driving people. But this is not new and has been happening for a long time. Hence, if you don’t follow a system and process, everything will collapse.

Recent big-ticket films that bombed

• Agent was made on a budget of around Rs. 70 crore, but filmmakers may only recover 20 per cent
• Producer Dil Raju said he lost Rs. 25 crore on Shakuntalam which was made on a budget of around Rs 65 crore.
• Ravi Teja-starrer Ravanasura was made with Rs. 60 crore but the recovery was around 20 per cent
• Liger was made on a budget of more than Rs. 130 crores, but the film collected only one-fourth of it
• The Chiranjeevi-starrer Acharya was mounted on Rs. 140 crore, but the makers recovered less than 50 per cent