Imran Khan has never shied away from speaking honestly about his time in Bollywood, and in a recent interview, the actor once again offered a blunt assessment of how the industry functions — particularly when it comes to star salaries and box office pull.
In a conversation with ETimes, Imran acknowledged that casting big stars in high-budget films often hinges on their perceived box office value. However, he strongly criticised what he sees as a growing trend of actors exploiting the system by charging massive upfront fees without taking responsibility for a film’s financial health.
“I believe that increasingly we have reached a place where stars exploit the system,” Imran said. He contrasted this mindset with the approach he learned from his uncle, Aamir Khan, and earlier generations of actors. According to Imran, stars once treated films as shared responsibilities rather than paycheques. “They would themselves invest in the film,” he explained, clarifying that this didn’t necessarily mean writing a cheque, but rather taking ownership of the project’s success or failure.
Imran illustrated the problem with a hypothetical example. If a film costs ₹30 crore to make and a star charges ₹40 crore as salary, the total budget jumps to ₹70 crore — even though less than half of that amount is spent on the actual film. “What is now our route to profitability? And do I care about that?” he asked. “I should care about it. It’s my film.”
He argued that stars who command such high fees are the ones best positioned to take risks. “Take less money up front. Roll the dice. Take a gamble and bet that the film will do well,” Imran said, adding that demanding enormous salaries upfront reflects a lack of faith in the project itself.
Calling the practice “foolishness,” Imran said stars end up sabotaging their own films by prioritising personal enrichment over quality. “You’re exploiting your film and enriching yourself personally at the cost of the film,” he remarked, noting that some actors seem to operate with the attitude of securing their payment first and caring little about the final outcome.
Imran also revealed that Aamir Khan rarely charges high upfront fees. Instead, Aamir prefers backend profit-sharing deals, tying his earnings to a film’s performance. According to Imran, that model reflects genuine belief in the work — and a commitment to cinema beyond personal gain.