Ajith Kumar’s recent box office run has been far from golden. His last release Good Bad Ugly, mounted on a massive ₹200 crore budget, grossed ₹247.42 crore worldwide.
But with just ₹153.75 crore in domestic net collections, the film actually lost money theatrically.
Netflix came to the rescue with a ₹95 crore OTT deal, cushioning losses — but still nowhere near a clean hit.
Before that, VidaaMuyarchi crashed even harder. Made on a budget of ₹185 crore, it grossed just ₹136.41 crore worldwide, with a poor ₹81.56 crore net in India. A ₹100 crore Netflix sale softened the blow, but once again the movie ended up a financial misfire.
Normally, back-to-back underperformers would pull down an actor’s market value. But not Ajith.
If reports are to be believed, he charged a staggering ₹105–₹110 crore for VidaaMuyarchi. And now, industry buzz claims he is hiking his fee to an eye-watering ₹150–₹175 crore for his next, tentatively titled AK64.
With the film’s budget rumoured to touch ₹300–₹400 crore, the burning question is: can such colossal numbers ever be recovered at the box office?
Ajith’s mantra, as quoted by Pinkvilla, is simple yet audacious: “Even films with simple stories should be presented lavishly.”
But with stakes this high, trade circles are asking — lavish for whom, and at what cost?
