Actor Mushtaq Khan reveals he never got extra money despite Welcome’s endless shooting schedule.
You can’t think of Welcome without Mushtaq Khan and his unforgettable character Baloo. Who can forget the famous line: “Meri ek tang fake hai, main hockey ka bahut bada khiladi tha.” It seems as if the two are inseparable from each other.
As much love as Mushtaq got for the role, especially in today’s meme culture, there’s an unfortunate truth behind the scenes: he didn’t get paid as much as he should have. Of course, it was fun to work with actors like Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor and Akshay Kumar, but the shooting schedule was endless and the pay that Mushtaq got was never up to the increased hours.
Mushtaq Khan shared his disappointment about the pay disparity and said, “Samjhaut jab humara hota hai to bola hai ki 20 din ka shoot hai ya 25 din ka shoot hai. Uss usus hum aap naa payment tai karti hai. Par fir 25 din ka shoot ke baad, aapse 10 din aur maange jaaye hain, fir uss baad 15 din aur. Main kaha ye toh galit baat hai yaar.
Paise nahi badhenge. (When we sign an agreement, we are told it is a 20-day or 25-day shoot. Based on that, we decide our payment. But when, after the 25-day shoot is over, they ask for 10 more days, and then after that another 15 more days. I felt it was not right. The payment hike was not done).”
He further revealed that Akshay Kumar’s staff was getting more salary than him. “Let me tell you the reason behind this. It was fixed for us that you have to do the entire film in Rs 1 lakh, whether it takes 20 days or 25. But their staff is paid per day… if we are also paid per day then we will think how much we will get.”
It was fixed for us that we will do the film in Rs 1 lakh, whether it takes 20 days or 25 days. But their staff worked on a daily basis. Just think how much money we would have earned if we were paid per day.
Recently Mushtaq Khan was seen in the blockbuster Stree 2 and made headlines after he was kidnapped. He was invited to attend an event in Meerut, where this disturbing incident took place.
