Sonam Kapoor’s budget concern for 'Veere Di Wedding' with Kareena is not just a gender issue

Whether it’s Sholay and Deewar (or the more recent Dostana and Dishoom) Bollywood bromances have always been a success formula. Producers have put these movies on a massive canvas. The star power of two stars combined has always been a crowd-puller, add a popular actress to the mix and you have a sure-shot hit on your hands. 

But the scene is drastically different when it comes to a two-heroine project. Unlike two-hero projects that are now categorised under the ‘bromance’ genre, Bollywood hasn’t bothered to coin a term for such movies. That’s probably because such projects are seen few and far between. 
The pay disparity debate was a much-talked about subject in B-Town. And looking at the difference between the pay-packets of actors and their female counterparts, one can’t help but wonder whether this too is a case of gender bias?

We are as good!
Sonam Kapoor made a point while promoting her brother Harshvardhan’s movie Mirzya. Speaking about the kind of money that is pumped in two-hero projects, she said, “The kind of money they got to make Dishoom is way more than what Kareena and I were getting to make Veere Di Wedding. I hate to say it, but I do think that think Kareena and I have a wider audience or that we could open a film as big as them and we could do as good as them. It’s just because they are men. Veere Di Wedding is a commercial film. I find it really disgusting that this happens.”
The actress went on to add that they are now getting a decent enough budget. “But I have to cut my fee, Bebo has to cut hers. We all have cut our fees to get this film there. It’s a patriarchal society and there’s a lot of sexism, which is disgusting.”

Not a gender thing
Most exhibitors and trade analysts feel that it’s not a gender thing, but the lack of any previous movies on such lines barring a few projects. And that’s why producers are reluctant to put their money on such films.
Says Amul Mohan, Editor, Super Cinema, “Every movie deserves a good budget. There are two kinds of budgets — one is what the producer feels is right for their film, and the other is the one that the studio feels the movie should be made in. Sometimes, when there is disparity between the two, you get into a situation where you think that people are not on the same page. If it’s a genre or a sub-plot of a genre like a two-heroine comedy film, it will be a new situation or genre for producers. It’s natural that producers will be a bit apprehensive to give it that kind of a budget because it is going to be an experimental situation. You don’t know what kind of budget it should have, whether it will work, and various other factors come into play. You can’t really give an example and say that Gunday has a certain budget, so the next movie in a similar genre should have that much lesser or a bigger budget. We don’t even have that number to go by.”

It’s about star power
There’s a reason why Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan or Akshay Kumar movies get massive budgets. The power to generate a certain footfall is what drives the money that is put into these projects. Says Akshaye Rathi, a film exhibitor, columnist and entrepreneur, “It’s definitely not a gender thing. A Kareena-Sonam movie will definitely get a bigger budget if you are going to compare it to a movie that stars, say a Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Kay Kay Menon together, who are great actors. It’s about the stardom and fan following that you have. If you look at Dishoom, which has John and Varun, just Varun by himself has consistently delivered films that have seen very good numbers. Today, Varun himself would probably get a bigger budget than Sonam and Kareena coming together in a film.”
He analyses Sonam’s success graph. He states, “If you look at the solo films of Sonam, (barring one — Neerja — which did well more because of its content than Sonam’s star power), you can’t have one film determining your stardom. Look at Kangana Ranaut. She had a Tanu Weds Manu, which was followed up by Revolver Rani and Rajjo. So after a film that does `140 crore, you have movies that do `7 crore and `3 crore, respectively, immediately after. So you have to be very clear about which film gets its audience because of the star power and which ones get it because of the content’s merit.”
He continues, “Of course, Kareena and Sonam are big stars, and they have a fan following, but they won’t get the budget that a John-Varun film directed by a Rohit Dhawan, produced by a Nadiadwala does. It’s not because Varun and John are heroes and these two are heroines. It’s because Varun and John together have a much larger fan following than a Kareena and Sonam put together.”

Take a pay cut
One of Sonam’s grouses was that she and her co-star Kareena had to cut down their fee. But it does often happen that actors accept less money for a project that is considered slightly risky. Says Amul, “Many actors take pay cuts if they want to work on a film that they feel strongly about. It shouldn’t be an issue. But I can understand that this issue is cropping up, because something like this has never been attempted.” The success of the movie often depends on the budget. A higher budget makes movies risky propositions. 
Amul adds, “Sonam herself has been part of movies where she has been the main protagonist, be it an Aisha, Khoobsurat or Neerja, where the movies were budgeted in a particular way. Hence, the movies did decently at the box-office and made a profit for the producers. The budget has to be right. If she had made, let’s say a Khoobsurat at the cost that another leading actor in the industry was making his project, the conversation would have been different. I can understand her frustration. She truly believes in the script, she wants to say the story, but if the budget isn’t correct, it can be a difficult situation.”

Money factor
The money factor did cause a lot of friction in Bollywood. Akshaye adds, “Look at it this way, Sonam and Kareena definitely get a fee higher than someone like Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjay Mishra and Nawazuddin Siddiqui who are fine actors, but I don’t see all these people creating a ruckus about unfair pay because of gender. It’s because of star power. It’s purely about how much can you invest in an actor and how much you can expect from the project. That is the calculation that comes into play, nothing else.”

Genre matters
A certain genre is definitely going to get makers more excited than others. Akshaye says, “A genre like action has a much larger audience. Beyond the metros, action, as a genre, caters to the tier 2 and 3 towns too, which a Veere Di Wedding would not. It’s about how large an audience you are catering to more than whether you are an actor or an actress. All these factors determine how much budget you can generate. To say that just because Varun and John are male actors they are getting such a budget it is unfair to their stardom and their draw at the box-office.” 
The need for money also depends on the genre of the movie that’s being made. Amul says, “An actress-backed movie can have a big budget too if they really want it. Take Akira, for example. The budget of the movie was almost `30 crores. It’s an action film and such a film requires such a budget.”

It’s a difficult task
Producer Shrishti Arya had once tried to put together the Indian version of the movie Bride Wars that originally starred Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. She says, “It’s quite difficult to put together two-heroine projects even now and that’s because you don’t know what the market potential is. Till you don’t invest the right amount of money, you will never be able to realise the market potential. We have had a lot of heartening films including Sonam’s Neerja, that have shown us that there can be women-centric films. The thing is stories work, I don’t think it’s gender based. I think the problem of gender only comes when it’s used against putting a woman-oriented film forward.”
Speaking about her experience with the remake of Bride Wars, she says, “We would have had to re-look at the budget. If it would have two leading men, it would have had a totally different budget. Unfortunately, our director passed away and the movie wasn’t made.” When questioned if she would want to make something on similar lines now, she says, “I would most definitely want to revisit it. The time is right now. When you do something path-breaking, you make your own way. And one would be proud if one was given the opportunity to do that.”

The next step?
The past few years have seen actresses starring in movies that have done great business — be it Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja, Deepika Padukone’s Piku, Kangana Ranaut’s Queen or Anushka Sharma’s NH10. So will two-heroine projects be the next natural step ahead? 
Amul says, “I think, in the last couple of years, we have had a really good influx of solo-heroine movies. So, the next step on that front, could be two-heroine projects. But I don’t think we have really had a lot of two-heroine movies in the past. Once we get around to making more movies like that, we will get to see what kind of monies people are offering or not offering.” 
Shrishti is in agreement. She adds, “We have had a lot of films that have male actors in leading roles, so we have lot of success in that zone. But I think films like Veere... should definitely be showing the way forward and will help cover this disparity. Any film that is high concept, needs a little more nurturing than a film that is more conventional or mainstream. Unfortunately, movies with women protagonists are still considered high concept, which it truly should not be. Anything that is not a love story, action or comedy will have certain amount of difficulties that it will have to face.”