Mahesh Babu was paid one crore by Zee TV for doing a promotional programme on Sankranthi. He travelled on a chartered flight to Gannavaram and then to Machilipatnam.
The day was bad, it rained heavily and the programme was cancelled. To compensate, a blue mat background was put up and adjustment made to give it an authentic look.
Sources cite that Namratha Shirodkar is very particular about money matters and doesn’t budge till everything is paid, cleared.
Earlier Gemini TV would do such promotional events, now Zee is on the forefront and vying for the top TRP ratings.
All in all, one understands, film stars attend television programmes during film release to promote the movie but here to even attend a television programme not connected with a film release, this is how much they charge. At least Mahesh Babu does that.