New Delhi: Actress Richa Chadha trended a great deal last week for her powerful blog on late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, nepotism, discrepancies in not giving actors royalties for their films, and much more. She touched upon every topic in detail and meanwhile revealed how much she was given for 'Gangs of Wasseypur', which earned a cult status later. Richa was paid 2.5 lakh for both the series, and she is fine with it. However, she pointed out that the studio didn't pay her or the other people associated with the film despite the film's success.
"Change is messy and uncomfortable, but not changing may be fatal. So why can't actors be paid royalty? It is a small price to pay for the loss pf perpetual anonymity. Ditto for directors? Writers? I was paid Rupees 2,50,000 (two lacs fifty thousand) for ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ both parts and that’s alright. Kashyap took a chance on me, and for that I am forever grateful. I didn’t even expect to be paid for a break like that. The film went on to become a cult hit. My continuing career is a testament to that. However, someone somewhere must make money from a film’s continued popularity," Richa wrote.
Her claims were soon backed by the creator of 'Gangs of Wasseypur' - Anurag Kashyap - who tweeted to say that most of the actors got paid like Richa or even less and he himself had to forfeit his fees to make the film. Anurag added that that for the studio, 'Gangs of Wasseypur' is "still a flop" and they have "never received a penny on it".
"She is right. Most actors and crew got paid similar amounts or less and I had to forfeit my entire fees to make GOW. Funny thing is we still own 50% IPR on 'GOW' and we have never seen a penny on it or know about it’s income. For the studio it’s still a flop," the filmmaker tweeted.
He added, "Despite the film being seen the world over and playing on various OTT platform, according to them they haven't made any money on a film that was made under 18 crore. And then they actually once a few years back asked me to make a part 3."
'Gangs of Wasseypur' first released in June 2012 and the second part came in August. The first one was headlined by Manoj Bajpayee and the second by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Richa, Huma Qureshi, Rajkummar Rao, Reema Sen and Pankaj Tripathi were also part of the series.
Meanwhile, in her blog, Richa also categorically mentioned how veteran stars like Parveen Babi, AK Hangal and Bhagwan Dada were left destitute in the final stage of their lives owing to lack of money as there was no system of royalty then.
"If I am not wrong, again, (going by rules for residual payments in other film industries) even if I were to earn royalty of this film, (if I worked under the SAG guidelines, I would get only be getting a small percentage, under different categories capped at a maximum of 6.2 percent). Does it make sense that a huge star like Parveen Babi allegedly didn't have enough money for her treatment in her final years? Ditto Hangal saab? Or that Bhagwan Dada lived in a chawl in his final years? I am aware of my desire to see all credited departments get their due in terms of royalty is the most unrealistic dream. It just will not happen, at least not in my lifetime," she wrote.
