Allocations, Actor Fees in India Much Higher – Irfan Zaini

PETALING JAYA: Actor Irfan Zaini, 31, revealed that fees for actors in the Indian film industry are far more lucrative compared to the Malaysian film industry.

He explained that this is driven by the large allocations invested in producing a film or drama.

“As I said, the allocation for producing a film in India is much larger, around RM400 million compared to Malaysia.

“So, certainly the actors’ fees are higher because we know how big the fees for actors there are,” he said after the launch of the trailer for the film Terbang yesterday.

Irfan, who had the opportunity to appear in the film Jana Nayagan alongside Indian mega star Vijay, acknowledged that it is not easy to penetrate the Indian market, which is already saturated with the presence of many actors.

“An actor like me, who is still small in that context, finds it very difficult to penetrate the Indian film market; just to get one scene is extremely hard.

“Imagine how grateful I am to have been given a role in that film. That is no small achievement,” he shared.

At the same time, the Terbang actor is grateful for the opportunity to share the screen with his idol and promised to hold onto Vijay’s advice to become a successful actor one day.

“The experience of acting in India taught me a lot. Moreover, acting on such a massive production set.

“But the set for Terbang is no less impressive. I can say it is on par with international films, even though the allocation is smaller compared to India.

“This proves that our films are capable of competing and reaching an international level even with a smaller budget,” he said.

Utusan Malaysia