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Chetan Bhagat on 3 Idiots: One of the best films of Aamir Khan’s career, 3 Idiots is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel. You will be surprised to know that Chetan got only a few lakhs for this film which earned crores of rupees.
14 October, 2025
Chetan Bhagat on 3 Idiots: Bollywood’s superhit film ‘3 Idiots’ was released in the year 2009. Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor were in lead roles in this cult blockbuster. This was the highest grossing Bollywood film of that year. The success of this film made the film’s star cast, director Rajkumar Hirani as well as 3 Idiots writer Chetan Bhagat a star. The film was based on his first book ‘Five Point Someone’, which was published in 2004. This book changed the entire path of Chetan Bhagat’s career.
work done with lakhs
Recently, in a podcast interview, Chetan Bhagat revealed that he had received only Rs 11 lakh for the blockbuster film 3 Idiots. However, it earned around Rs 350 crore at the box office. Chetan said that, we had signed a contract of Rs 1 lakh for 3 idiots, in which a bonus of Rs 10 lakh was fixed. I also got that bonus after the film became a superhit. He further said that, at that time I was new and did not know whether the film would be made or not. No one could have imagined that a star cast like Aamir Khan would work on this story. According to those times, 11 lakhs was a very good amount.
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saif ali khan fees
Chetan Bhagat told that, in those times even big actors used to get limited fees only. He said that I remember, at that time Saif Ali Khan had received around Rs 25 lakh for ‘Parineeta’. In that sense, my deal was not too bad. Later the rights started selling in crores. He also told that, when he had sold the rights of 3 Idiots, he used to work in a bank. The book came out in 2004, the rights were sold in 2005 and the film was released in 2009. Till then I was doing my full time job only.
fixed amount
Chetan Bhagat told that, for his later films like ‘2 States’ and ‘Half Girlfriend’, he always liked to take fixed payment. The writer said that a lot of wrongdoing happens in the film industry in the name of profit sharing. Many times production houses show the film at a loss even after becoming a hit. That’s why I consider it right to take a fixed amount. Apart from this, Chetan Bhagat said that when a writer sells film rights, they are usually for 3 years. If the film is not made in the meantime, the rights return to the writer.
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