Tamil director Lokesh Kanagaraj is currently one of the top five directors in India.
His only drawback? He continues to work exclusively with Tamil stars and they don’t have strong pull in the Hindi-speaking market. Aside from that, Lokesh is clearly on track to become even bigger.
His upcoming film, Coolie is generating massive buzz – so much so that it’s even overshadowing War 2, a film from one of Hindi cinema’s biggest franchises and the first major collaboration between a South and Hindi superstar.
Coolie is being mounted on a huge scale. Lokesh recently revealed that the shoot involves 800 to 900 artists on set, as large portions of the film take place at a sea harbor demanding a grand production design.
He also confirmed that Rajinikanth is being paid ₹150 crore for the project, with the film’s total budget ranging between ₹350 to ₹400 crore.
As for Lokesh himself, he’s reportedly charged ₹50 crore for the film.
He mentioned that after taxes, he expects to take home around ₹37–38 crore. He’s been working on this project for a couple of years.
This just highlights the nature of the film industry—where only a select few command massive paychecks, while many others continue to struggle with even basic monthly expenses. That’s the reality of show business.
