Chef Vikas Khanna, who recently turned filmmaker with The Last Color, has once again exposed the ugly working of the hindi film industry. He took to Twitter to reveal the amount of money demanded from him in exchange for a three-star or four-star rating. “3 lacs for 3 Stars. 4 lacs for 4 Stars. Not forgetting this communication until death,” Vikas tweeted. Earlier, in a strongly worded Tweet, Vikas Khanna wrote that hearing about nepotism from national award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut, used to ‘break’ his heart. However, now he has experienced it first hand. “Minions won’t let outsiders enter even if they put their heart & soul in craft. It’s painful to hear ‘Pay or we’ll destroy you”, Khanna had tweeted.
The Michelin Star chef was particularly miffed by the treatment meted out at him by the so-called film fraternity biggies. He alleged that many had asked him for money and when he did not oblige, they gave his movie a 2-star rating to ‘destroy’ him. Sharing some positive reviews from critics, he urged everyone to watch the movie on Amazon Prime. The Last Color, starring Neena Gupta, explores the unlikely friendship between a nine-year-old tightrope walker and an elderly widow. The film also shines a light on the social injustice meted out to widows in Varanasi. In an earlier interview with PTI, Vikas said that he was overwhelmed with the positive response to The Last Color, despite his lack of training or experience in filmmaking. "I'm a trained chef, not a filmmaker. Yet people have said that the film moves very organically and nobody can take away the fact that it is so original," he said. "People have showered their love on me ever since the movie has come. It moves people and they feel it is their movie. Growing up we always felt that movie making is magical. Now people see that if I can make a movie, anybody can make a movie," he added. The movie also made it to the Oscar 2020 and was a part of the Oscars shortlist.