2019 did not turn out to be a great year for Dharma Productions. Apart from Good Newwz and Kesari, both featuring superstar Akshay Kumar in lead roles, none of their offerings set the cash registers jingling at the box-office.
Kalank, a multi-starrer made on a huge scale, tanked at the box-office, incurring a massive loss to the production house. Their next release, Student of the Year 2, was expected to hit a century since Student of the Year had racked up a lifetime collection of Rs. 70 crores in 2012, but it could not even touch the mark set by its predecessor. The much-delayed actioner Drive released directly on Netflix and was panned by one and all.
After the failure of the aforementioned projects, Dharma Productions’ head honcho, Karan Johar, has reportedly retreated into introspection. The filmmaker is not only scrapping commercially unviable projects, but he is also cutting down the budget of his most ambitious directorial venture Takht. “From scrapping commercially uncertain projects to cutting down the budget of his ambitious directorial Takht, Karan Johar is considering all of that,” a source in the know tells an entertainment portal.
The production house has also decided to cut down the budget of its costliest production venture Brahmastra. Featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles, the fantasy drama has already faced an inordinate delay in production and hence the makers have decided to tighten its budget.
“Ayan has been over-shooting Brahmastra. The film is taking longer to complete than any other previous Dharma Production. Costly stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, all of whom have been paid their market price, are apparently charging extra for all the additional dates needed to complete Brahmastra,” adds the source.
Well, it will be interesting to see if getting along on a shoestring succeeds in getting the production house back on their feet. Talking about their forthcoming ventures for 2020, the slate includes films like Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Sooryavanshi, Brahmastra, Shershaah and Dostana 2.
UK China film collaborations take off as Third Shanghai London Forum connects British Asian filmmakers with Chinese studios Instagram/ukchinafilm 
