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'Sairat' Lead Stars Akash Thosar And Rinku Rajguru Get ₹5 Cr Bonus Each As Film Breaks Records

The Lead Actors Of Marathi Blockbuster 'Sairat' Have Got The Best Appraisal This Season
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Nagaraj Manjule's Sairat has emerged as the highest-grossing Marathi film of all time, beating the record of the Nana Patekar-starrer Natsamrat, and is still playing to packed theatres across Mumbai. The film, which grossed nearly ₹60 crores at the domestic box-office, features Akash Thosar and Rinku Rajguru, both debutants with no prior acting experience whatsoever.

Now in a serendipitous turn of events, the film's producers have decided to award a bonus of ₹5 crore each to Thosar and Rajguru.

According to Mumbai Mirror, producers Nitin Keni and Nikhil Sane have announced that not only will the lead pair be given the bonus, but a chunk of money will also be handed over to the rest of the cast and crew of the film that has become a landmark in Marathi cinema.

Speaking to the tabloid, Keni said, "Yes, we are planning this as a small gesture of goodwill for the cast and it is not only the actors who will be receiving certain amounts of money, but also the extended cast and crew. We are finalising the paperwork, but at the same time are hoping that we do not have to close our accounting books soon since the shows are still going houseful. Last week, there were three shows of Captain America: Civil War, three of Azhar and eight of Sairat in Mumbai suburbs."

When asked what they plan to do with the generous sum, Rajguru, who is only 15, didn't want to reveal the details and said that she just wants to go back to her hometown as she's spent the past few months between Mumbai and Pune. Thosar, 22, who so far worked at the local kushti, making ₹1000 if he won a fight, said he doesn't know what he'll do with the money.

What's absolutely mindboggling is the fact that both the leads were signed at a meagre ₹4 lac each while the film itself was made on a shoestring budget of ₹4 crore. Set against the backdrop of caste discrimination, Sairat is an epic love story which draws inspiration from the classic Romeo and Juliet.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.