While the discussions about the skyrocketing budgets of the upcoming big-ticket films continue to dominate, the actors Manoj Bajpayee has given weight to the trend, calling it nothing more than an advertising strategy.The actor recently shared his thoughts in an interview when he was asked about the buzz surrounding the reported budget Ranbir KapoorIt is the Ramayana Priyanka ChopraIt is Varanasi. According to Manoj, such conversations often escalate as part of a film’s promotional campaign.“Woh ek PR ka zariya hota hai (This is a PR tactic), because this kind of talk is happening for the last 15 years,” he said in an interview with Kadak. Reflecting on the extent to which box office figures and budgets have entered the public discourse, Manoj revealed that even casual interactions with fans often revolve around numbers around the content of a film.He explained: “This has become so contagious that sometimes audience members who meet me at the airport start talking about the numbers of a film. I have scolded them many times, saying, “This money is not going to your bank account. If this is your bank account, then you need to talk about a movie’s box office numbers. Whether you like the movie or not.”The actor added that viewers should focus on the audience experience instead of getting caught up in the financial figures associated with the films.“Those 500-600 million they are talking about, they don’t give you a single rupee.” Therefore, the audience must understand that their only connection with the film is whether they like it or not; other things shouldn’t matter. The business of a film is only the competence of a producer,” he mentioned.Meanwhile, Ramayana continues to build tremendous anticipation ahead of its release. the director Nitesh Tiwarithe two-part mythological show is reportedly being put together on a scale never seen before in Indian cinema, with estimates suggesting a budget of over Rs 4,000 crore.A significant contributor to the film’s visual ambition is DNEG, the world-renowned VFX studio behind such acclaimed projects as Inception, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune. Producer Namit Malhotra has time and again expressed his commitment to ensure that Ramayana is brought to life with world-class production values.Priyanka Chopra’s Varanasi is also ranking as one of the most expensive Indian productions ever made. Reports suggest that the film has a budget of around 1.4 billion, while an international profile valued the project at around USD 150 million, placing it in the category of large-scale global film ventures.
