‘Coolie’ budget buzz: Lokesh Kanagaraj reacts to ₹50 crore fee rumours, Rajinikanth’s pay revealed – Read more

Director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s upcoming film ‘Coolie’ with superstar Rajinikanth is creating a lot of buzz, rumours are spreading that Lokesh is getting ₹50 crore for this project, which has a total budget of ₹350 crore. Come, let’s see what the director has to say about it.

Rumours about Lokesh Kanagaraj charging ₹50 crore for the film

Director Lokesh Kanagaraj is making headlines for reportedly charging a massive ₹50 crore as his fee for the upcoming film ‘Coolie’, starring superstar Rajinikanth. This news spread quickly online after reports suggested that ‘Coolie’ has a total production budget of ₹350 crore. People began speculating that Lokesh’s fee alone is ₹50 crore, which is a huge amount for a director in the Indian film industry. Many were curious to know if this was true or just a rumour.

Lokesh Kanagaraj addressed the topic

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Lokesh Kanagaraj confirmed that his salary for ‘Coolie’ is ₹50 crore. He said that “The ₹50 crore you have mentioned is my salary... that has happened because of the success of my previous film, Leo. Leo made over ₹600 crores, so now I’m getting paid twice as much as what I made previously. I pay my taxes, and I’m able to support my friends and family thanks to the same.” Lokesh also shared that he spent the last two years fully dedicated to ‘Coolie’ and has no complaints about the hard work it took to reach this point.

Rajinikanth is said to have received approximately ₹280 crore for ‘Coolie’ according to the media reports, making it one of the costliest projects ever made in Tamil cinema. The remaining budget is used for production expenses such as sets, crew salaries, visual effects, and other film-making needs and exact figures are still not confirmed by the team and these amounts are being widely discussed in media reports.

The film is scheduled to release on August 14, 2025, across multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi and is positioned as a pan-India blockbuster.