If a hero looks even slightly promising, producers line up behind him. Once producers queue up, increasing remuneration becomes easy. That is exactly what happened with Kiran Abbavaram.
After struggling for a while to settle as a hero, Kiran scored a solid hit with K-Ramp. That film changed things for him. Offers started coming in, and today he has three to four films in his pipeline.
The problem is, Tollywood is already short of reliable mid-range heroes. Many of them are quoting â¹10 crore as remuneration.
Even heroes who are slightly below that level are asking for â¹7 crore. Now, reports say Kiran Abbavaram has also started quoting around â¹5 crore.
Earlier, producers could manage a film by paying â¹3 crore as hero remuneration and spending another â¹9–10 crore on production. A â¹12 crore budget could still be managed, with â¹6–7 crore from theatrical business and the rest recovered through OTT.
But with the increased remuneration, the budget is now touching â¹15 crore. If the story needs better casting or higher production values, it will go even higher. That makes producers nervous about whether the project will actually work out.
As a result, many producers are sighing, “We thought at least this hero would be affordable. Now even he is out of reach.”