It appears that the below-par performance of some of the recent big-budget releases has impacted a number of yet-to-start movies. As a result of which, studios and producers are re-working the cost to make their projects reasonably safer and viable at the box office. Apart from Aditya Dhar’s next with Ranveer Singh, we hear that Sidharth Malhotra’s Spyder has hit a roadblock due to financial constraints. Apparently, the lukewarm response to Sidharth’s Yodha has made producer Siddharth Anand apprehensive about the action thriller, to be helmed by debutant Rohan Khambati. The budget of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s mythology-inspired Karna, with Suriya and Janhvi Kapoor, is also being reassessed. The makers are reportedly cutting the costs on the two-part film that was initially planned as a R600 crore magnum opus. If that’s not all, the budget of Shahid Kapoor-starrer Ashwatthama: The Saga Continues has been downscaled from R500 crore by over R200 crore. Moreover, the actor has also reduced his remuneration considering the extensive production, VFX and CGI required for the mytho-inspired action drama. In the wake of the financial jugglery, the shooting timelines are also likely to be planned all over again. 

Drawing the battle lines