MUMBAI: In this age when most actors compete amongst each other in the number game, Nandita Das, Manav Kaul and Saurabh Shukla, who play the lead roles in the remake of the cult film Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai, did not charge a penny as remuneration.

The move was to support the independent film directed and produced by Soumitra Ranade that faced budget constraints.

“Firstly I don’t equate money with work. There is a lot of work that I do without charging anything. Films of course, help me pay my bills and hence I don’t do them without any fees. But seldom do you get a project or a director where you know that they genuinely don’t have the money - and they just want to make a good film,” said Das, who is known for her critically acclaimed performances.

Shukla too echoed the same thoughts as an artist. “Soumitra approached me and told me that there is no money but you be a partner. So all of us are partners in this project and I think it is great idea, because there are scripts in which the ‘mainstream market’ doesn’t believe in. But as artists we know that it has content and also has commercial possibilities. So what should we do? Should we be slaves to the market and not do these films? Or should we try it? So when we try it, we have to cut down costs,” he said.

Touched by their gesture, Ranade has made them partners on the project and will be sharing the box office profit with the three actors once the film is released.

"It was a very challenging film but I could pull it off only because of my supportive actors who worked for free,” said the director.

The film is raising Rs 30 lakhs through a two-month long crowdfunding campaign on Wishberry, with 2 October, 2015 being the last date to contribute. The campaign started on 3 August to collect money for the post-production, animation and VFX of the film.
 

The original film, directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza, was released in 1980 and starred Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Om Puri in the lead roles.