The producers of Shankar’s 2.0 face the worst possible crisis possible for a big-budget film. The crisis of budget. According to sources very close to the film, the budget has over-shot by leaps and bounds. “Originally 2.0’s budget was Rs 65 crores. They upgraded it to Rs 90 crores keeping in mind the expensive special effects. But because of the FX faux pas, the budget has gone up to Rs.160 crores which would be impossible to recover for a Telugu film,” says a source close to the project.
Sources blame the ill preparation for 3D filming for the fiasco. “They simply shot with expensive cameras and crew without doing their homework. And then they sent the film for post-production to an American FX company which messed it up completely. Precious resources and time were lost. The entire 3D had to done all over again. This pushed up the budget to an impossible figure.”
The producers are now in a fix. “Rajinikanth is God in the South. But in the North he has no market. For the Hindi belt the producers are hoping to get Akshay Kumar to promote the film. But Akshay plays the antagonist in the 2.0. This may not go down well with his audience. But for all of this to be considered the film first needs to be completed. And that doesn’t seem to be a proximate possibility,” says the source.
