RMIM Archive Article "382".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM Archives..
# Subject: Salaries of MDs
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# Authors: Surjit Singh (two parts) and A S Chandel
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Salaries of MDs in Golden Era
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Hi Fellow Music Lovers:
Recently,there was a discussion about the money paid to
MD's in the golden age. Here is some info from my files. It
comes from the book, "The Economic Aspects of the Film
Industry in India" by Dr. Rikhab Das Jain. It is based his
Ph. D. thesis on the same subject submitted by him to Agra
University during 1960. The info occurs in Table XLVII on
page 134. Here is the Table in its entirety.
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Years 1955-56
Amount per film Names of the MDs
50K to 60K Naushad, CR, Shankar-Jaikishan
35K to 45K S. D. Burman
30K to 35K Anil Biswas, O. P. Nayyar
10K to 15K Ghulam Mohamad, Madan Mohan, Roshan, S.
N. Tripathy, Bulo C. Rani, Chitragupt,
Nashad
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During April 1958
Amount per film Names of the MDs
100K to 110K O. P. Nayyar
50K to 75K S. D. Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, CR
40K to 55K Naushad, Anil Biswas
12K to 15K Madan MOhan, Nashad, Vinod, Roshan
8K to 12K S. N. Tripathy, Bulo C. Rani,
Chitragupt, Ghulam Mohamad
I hope that you find this info helpful in your
discussions.
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
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From: "Dr. Surjit Singh, a CALTECH dad"
Subject: 1949 delayed: MD's get a pay raise
The year 1949 is taking longer than I thought. It will be ready soon,
very soon! In the meantime, enjoy the following from my boxful of
newspaper and magazine cuttings.
When Dalsukh Pancholi's Khazaanchii became a super musical hit, he
made a lot of money. He asked the MD, Ghulam Hyder to ask anything he
wanted. The MD asked for a Rayleigh Bicycle. Pancholi was surprised
but bought the bike, which cost him Rs. 80 in those days. Ghulam Hyder
must have realized that he could have asked more, much more. A few
years later, when K. Asif asked Hyder to quit Lahore to give music for
his phuul (1945), Hyder said, "For creating music for your film, if
you promise to give me Rs. 25,000, I will leave Lahore and come to
Bombay." Asif agreed and Hyder did.
It is generally believed that that's how MD's started demanding and
getting equal or more money than stars. For example, in 1955, the
highest paid stars were Dilip Kumar, Prithviraj Kapoor, Meena Kumari,
Raj Kapoor and Nargis, who got anywhere from Rs. 60,000 to 100,000 per
acting job. Next in line were, Dev Anand, Madhubala and Nimmi, who
were given an amount ranging from Rs. 50,000 to 70,000. On the other
hand, the best paid music directors in 1955 were Naushad,
C. Ramchandra and Shankar Jaikishan who got from Rs. 50,000 to 60,000
per assignment. Next was S. D. Burman, with Rs. 35,000 to 45,000 and
Anil Biswas and O. P. Nayyar with Rs. 30,000 to 35,000. I will type
in the full list at a later date.
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
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Posted by: aschandel@alpha.ntu.ac.sg (A S Chandel)
Author: A S Chandel
Very interesting and informative piece. I would like to add to this
few rumours that I had read/heard during my time.
To start with the blockbuster of 40s RATAN cost only Rs75,000 to make
but the producer received more than 100,000 just from the records.
From this one can guess how much Naushad got as a composer.
When Azad (*ing Dilip Meena) was anounced, as usual for Dilip movie,
Naushd was signed as MD. The producer wanted Naushad to compose all
11 songs in 2 weeks which Naushad refused. When the Producer went to
C.Ramchandra he said " I can give you all 11 songs in 11 days, however
you have to pay me the same as you offered Naushad". well Producere
gave in and paid Rs100,000.
another story is that C.Ramchandra was favoured by South and composed
for PPs SHARDA (8ing Raj Kapoor and Meena K). CR was also signed for
"Chhoti Bahen" which was being planned then. After the debacle of
Sharda music, PP wanted CR out and signed SJ instead. CR was promised
Rs85,000 for Chhoti Bahen while SJ were given only Rs75,000. Well it
was a big jump for SJ from Rs75/month as instrumentalist with Prithvi
Theatre in late 40s.
In 1964 I had read the following rates for stars.
Dilip Kumar-800,000 (for Leader)
Raj Kapoor-500,00
Shammi Kapoor-400,000
Rajendra Kumar-400,000
Suneel Dutt-250,000
Pradeep Kumar/Bharat Bhooshan/Ashok Kumar 80,000
Among Heroines: Vyjantimala and Nutan were highest paid at Rs300,000.
During late 50s OPN became highest paid MD, but by early 60s SJ were
getting Rs500,000.
If you consider the inflation, then these were princely sums. The
best inflation indicator is that my father bought 400sq.yd plot in
posh area of Agra in 1957 for Rs3,200 only, same is now over
Rs1,000,000.
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From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian