Srinu Vaitla was once named as one of the top directors of Telugu cinema. However his poor track record left the top director earn nothing for his recent projects. Though he has been paid hefty remuneration for Aagadu and Bruce Lee, Srinu Vaitla had to cut down his pay cheque for Mister. After the film ended up as a dud, Srinu Vaitla had to pay back a part from his remuneration. His recent outing Amar Akbar Anthony too failed to repeat the magic and Srinu Vaitla’s work has been badly criticized.
He has been asked to share the profits from the film and he wrapped up the film on a promised strict budget of Rs 24 crores. Amar Akbar Anthony managed to recover Rs 20 crores through the satellite rights (Telugu and Hindi) and the digital rights (Amazon Prime). The film’s makers Mythri Movie Makers released the film on their own and Srinu Vaitla was promised half of the theatrical share of Amar Akbar Anthony as pay. The film registered poor openings and with the poor word of mouth, Amar Akbar Anthony’s theatrical share will stand close to Rs 6 crores. Hence Srinu Vaitla will take nothing home for the project. The ace director had to pay the salaries of his associates and writers from his pocket informed a close source.
The digital rights of Amar Akbar Anthony turned out to be a saviour else the makers would have lost the entire investment of the film because of the poor show of Amar Akbar Anthony at the box-office.
