Veteran producer Shailendra Singh has made startling revelations about his experience working with Akshay Kumar on the 2009 box-office disaster 8 x 10 Tasveer. Singh revealed details about the project that destroyed his financial resources in an interview with Siddharth Kannan.
The film, which failed to achieve box-office success, resulted in losses of more than ₹85 crore. Singh claims that Kumar denied his request for a partial refund after Singh approached him. Singh reported that Kumar said, “Nobody came to watch your film,” indicating that the producer alone should bear responsibility for the failure.
Singh described Kumar as a clever businessman because he needed to explain his fee increases during contract talks, which started at ₹15 crore and reached ₹36 crore, due to his “lucky number 9” requirement. The producer disclosed that the film’s expenses exceeded its budget, rising from an initial estimate of ₹30-35 crore to more than ₹85 crore due to Kumar’s frequent changes in filming locations.
The financial disaster led Singh to end his filmmaking career, as he stopped producing movies after that incident. He kept his professional boundaries with Kumar, whom he called a “lovely guy,” because their shared fun times and athletic activities fostered a good relationship.
The announcement of this information provides further evidence for existing discussions about the relationship between star power and production authority, as well as the financial matters involved in Bollywood film production.
