Why Is Bollywood Obsessed With ₹300 Crore Budget? FPJ Exclusive

Bollywood A-listers—filmmakers and actors—are anal about their film budgets being ‘huge’. More adamant than the actresses are about their hourglass figures, and ‘B’-grade celebs are about their social media followers.

Even in casual, off-the-record conversations, an A-lister will quietly slip in how his next ‘magnum opus’ costs Rs 300 crore. And, though they pretend that they are casually slipping in this ‘privileged’ information to you, you are expected to make a mental note of it and use it to “measure” the actor’s stardom!

Guys, please get realistic. Bollywood is going through a near-existential crisis. If you put checks and balances in place, you will realise that the success margin of Indian cinema in the first six months of 2026 is abysmal. So, please stop throwing this ‘imaginary’ budget around just to impress the media.

As always, there are exceptions to every rule

Take the example of the most successful Hindi film of all time, the Dhurandhar duology. An insider confirms, “It allegedly cost the studio which bankrolled it somewhere between Rs 265-270 crore.” Fair enough. The trade knows that even when the film was launched, Aditya Dhar had asked for something to the tune of around Rs 200 crore. During filming, especially because he didn’t anticipate he was going to end up making eight hours, he realised even Rs 220 crore was less. Rumour has it that Ranveer Singh, who was chuffed about this film (in hindsight, rightly so), realised that Dhar’s Dhurandhar would make history. So, he used his charm to get an additional budget sanctioned from the studio. The Dhurandhar duology went on to earn Rs 895.96 crore (Part I) and Rs 1108.09 crore (Part II). So, it more than justified its investment and also allowed Dhar and Singh (reportedly 25 per cent partners) each to take home a neat profit of an alleged Rs 325 crore.

But Dhurandhar is the exception in cinema rather than the rule. Yet, every other filmmaker/star who wants to measure his own success by his own scale keeps harping loosely about how their next venture is this “Rs 300 crore budget film.” The trade experts collectively pooh-pooh this lofty claim.

Take a look at the recent examples where “Rs 300 crore” was reportedly asked for by filmmakers/actors:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War—with Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal—is reportedly costing Rs 300 crore plus. This is kind of understandable because SLB has always been an expensive filmmaker. He is lavish in his setting, and he is a compulsive reshooter. Not to forget, RK, Alia and Vicky don’t come cheap.

Don 3, which is temporarily shelved, was also reportedly meant to be pitched as a Rs 300 crore film. Over here, more than the director, Farhan Akhtar, insiders say it was the childish Ranveer Singh who reportedly kept repeating that his films now need at least a Rs 300 crore budget because of his current standing in the film industry. Besides, the set was filled with foreign technicians. And they were costing the makers a bomb.

Jay Mehta’s Pralaay, which is rumoured to begin shooting in Australia in September, is also going to cost the makers somewhere around Rs 300 crore plus. They’ve started ‘advertising’ it!

The Ajay Devgn-Aanand L Rai recent controversial announcement, Chauhaan, which is being bankrolled by the biggest film studio, was earlier pitched to a music baron and another prominent production house that has been having a poor run at the box office.

Rai and Devgn’s ask was a reported Rs 50 crore as Ajay Devgn’s fee. The music mogul point-blank refused even Rs 90 crore and, as for the other production house, they diplomatically said they were not looking to make “such an expensive film”. Finally, Ajay and Aanand got their deal from a film studio, and the deal is reportedly inked for Rs 125 crore.

A film with Salman Khan is also being talked about as having a huge budget. The South Indian maker has reportedly started telling people how he has hired the Dhurandhar technicians (mostly Korean experts) to value-add.

The king of all movies—Siddharth Anand’s King with the asli Bollywood Badshah, Shah Rukh Khan—is also talked about as a Rs 280-300 crore-plus film. Here, the bragging is understandable because this is SRK we are talking about. He’s coming with his daughter, Suhana, and the biggest B-Town actress, Deepika Padukone. Shah Rukh, who has been absent since Pathaan and Jawan, both massive box office successes in 2023, is eagerly awaited. Naturally, no cost will be spared to try and make this global action thriller error-free. Rumour has it that the superstar is personally supervising Suhana’s portions, and if it means she needs more takes, Papa will not penny-pinch.

And global makers with Hindi versions are bigger braggarts

Atlee Kumar’s Raaka with Allu Arjun is allegedly giving out rough budget estimates of Rs 750 crore. It is touted as a high-voltage sci-fi action film, with a massive budget being allocated from the main budget for the VFX.

And what Atlee or any other Indian filmmaker does, SS Rajamouli, who has had an Oscar turn, must outdo. So, his

Varanasi with Mahesh Babu is reportedly costing somewhere around Rs 1,200 crore.

PS: Suddenly, Bollywood appears like a poor cousin of this global cinema that has top Telugu/Tamil stars. Guess, the next time you meet a Bollywood A-lister, he will casually throw the cost of a Rajinikanth or Allu Arjun project into the conversation.

Yaar, actors, please wake up and smell the coffee. Try and make quality cinema that goes on to become an all-time blockbuster (ATBB), rather than brag about budgets. Your film can cost the sun, moon and stars. However, it is only worthy of writing about, or it is only remembered, if it actually brings back the kind of ROI (return on investment) like Bahubali, Jawan, Saiyaara, Dangal or the Dhurandhar duology. Otherwise, it’s all hogwash.

Disclaimer: (All figures mentioned in the feature are fair, rough estimates secured from authentic trade experts/reports.)

Published on: Thursday, July 02, 2026, 10:29 PM IST