Is Akshay Kumar not charging any fees for his upcoming movies, Welcome 3 and Hera Pheri 3?
Reports are rife, the 56-year-old actor has sacrificed his fees to bring these two movies to life.
According to Bollywood Hungama, Akshay Kumar, who is one of the highest-paid actors of Bollywood, had decided to forfeit his acting fees for Welcome 3, which is titled Welcome To The Jungle, and Hera Pheri 3 – two of his most-loved comic franchises.
Instead, he has signed a profit-sharing deal with the producer Firoz Nadiadwala, report suggests.
“Akshay knew that Firoz Nadiadwala isn’t in best of financial condition, however, was very well aware that the basic idea of Welcome 3 and Hera Pheri 3 have potential to emerge as a humongous blockbuster. To start with, he first decided to completely sacrifice his fees, and entered into a profit-sharing model with Firoz Nadiadwala on entire revenue. Firoz wanted to retain the IP, and hence he has complete control over the IP, however, he will be sharing revenue with Akshay in a pre-decided ratio.”
– a source informed the portal.
As the report further suggests, producer Firoz Nadiadwala has given Akshay two cheques of Rs 9 crore each as a token of appreciation for going out of his way and giving up his fees.
“On letting go of the fees, he sat down with Firoz to carve out an exit plan by getting a studio on board. He personally spoke to Jio Studios and got them on board to partner with Firoz Nadiadwala. Once Jio came on board, it was one arrow, 3 solutions – Firoz got out of his debts, the franchises were revived and Akshay will be getting his share of profit from Jio, without any risk of films getting shelved.”
– the source added.
Reportedly, the actor was heart broke when he heard that Kartik Aaryan had replaced him in Hera Pheri 3. Later, he went on to sort out his differences with Firoz. The source further stated –
“Akshay Kumar was himself very sad when he heard that Kartik Aaryan was replacing him in Hera Pheri 3. He read all the reactions of fans and media people and then decided to sort out all the differences with Firoz Nadiadwala, and thereby return to the franchise. He has done it for all his fans, who wanted to see him as Raju and Rajeev.”