Caught in choppy market, hit by an economic tsunami - world's largest film industry, Bollywood is also facing rough weather. The boat is rocking. Big budget projects are folding up, expansion plans are being kept on hold and worst of all corporate houses are calling off their fancy multi-film contracts. But are stars affected by this sudden bubble burst? Most importantly will they also take pay-cuts like the rest of working class?

Senior chartered accountant Satish Pai declares ominously,"This is just the begining of the meltdown, it will continue for the next five years and financial scene will be really grim in the years to come. Very soon the biggest star will definitely have to take a pay cut," he stresses.

In the last three years, ever since corporate funding flushed into filmdom, talent cost shot up. Stars witnessed a euphoric hike in their fees, "Shah Rukh Khan was the only star who had seen that kind of money earlier and that too because he used to have 50 per cent partnership in his films.

But with the corporate boom - even second-rung actors clinched plum multi-crore deals," trade analyst N P Yadav points out.

So does it really mean that even Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt - the three stars who benefitted the most by the corporate boom-will have to revise their charges? "They will have to slash their fees or stick to working in films made under their own banners,"declares analyst Vinod Mirani. While Akshay Kumar laughs off his enviable Rs 60 crore tag as "way too bloated", Salman Khan brushes off the possibility of cutting his price saying,"Recession is for those who overcharge and certainly not for me who works hard and honestly. I charge what I deserve. So where is the question of slashing my price?" he counters.

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