The Ajith– Adhik Ravichandran combination was locked long ago and was expected to repeat immediately after Ajith’s career-biggest blockbuster Good Bad Ugly. Normally, after such a successful combination, multiple producers would line up to back the project. However, the film has been on hold for several months as producers are unable to afford it due to Ajith’s high remuneration.
Ajith is reportedly quoting a fee of around ₹170 crore. With this, the total budget goes beyond ₹300 crore on paper. Even after multiple calculations, producers feel the project is not recoverable and are stepping back. Discussions have taken place with several Tamil and Telugu producers, but nothing has worked out so far, as recovery remains the key concern.
Ajith’s career-biggest blockbuster Good Bad Ugly itself collected around ₹250 crore gross worldwide. Even if the next film achieves similar numbers, the theatrical share would be close to ₹120 crore, which is only about 40% of the total budget. The remaining 60% recovery becomes difficult, especially now that OTT platforms are no longer offering massive deals.
If the budget were around ₹200 crore, the project could be feasible for producers. However, with Ajith’s remuneration alone touching ₹170 crore, the film currently appears financially unviable.