Normally the cost of making is calculated and then a percentage added to it and this final price is quoted to distributors for big films. But it was different with S/0 Satyamurthy.
The collections of Race Gurram and Attarintiki Daredi were taken as a benchmark for selling S/O Satyamurthy. On that basis, the movie was reportedly sold for around Rs 63 crore in AP and Telangana areas alone and nearly 40% of it is rumored to be black money.
Showing the revenues for Race Gurram in Vizag area as Rs 5.25 crore, s/o Satyamurthy was sold for Rs 5.30 crore. While the official agreement was for Rs 3.25 crore, the rest is in black money. This means the buyers have to get back at least Rs 5.60 crore to be safe. Will the movie collect that much in Vizag area?
The whole film was made on a budget of Rs 45 to 50 crore, say industry sources.
Rs 10 crore apiece to Arjun and Trivikram, Rs 3 crore to Devisri Prasad, Rs 2 crore to Prasad Murella, Rs 1.5 crore to Samantha, Rs 50 lakh apiece to Adah Sharma and Nithya Menon and Rs 1 crore to Upendra apart from the remuneration of artistes like Rao Ramesh, Ali, MS Narayana etc which is also quite a hefty amount.
Had the movie been sold for Rs 45 to Rs 50 crore, it might have worked in the buyers’ favor. Only in some areas was the movie not sold at exorbitant prices and here the distributors might be safe. But in major areas, the movie might dent their pockets.
The producer is already on safe ground and has made a huge table profit of more than Rs 15 crore from the venture.
