A Rs 2,000-crore-scale franchise, a profit-first gamble, and a no-upfront-fee strategy. Dhurandhar was a financial bet that paid off. New details emerging about the blockbuster reveal that Ranveer Singh and director Aditya Dhar deliberately stepped away from the usual high-fee model, choosing instead to tie their earnings to the film’s performance.Betting on the back endThe strategy, as explained by Jyoti Deshpande of Jio Studios in an interview with ET Digital, was simple but risky: Reduce upfront payouts and share profits later.Rather than locking in large fixed fees, both Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar reportedly accepted smaller upfront payments in exchange for backend participation.“In Dhurandhar, Ranveer came with a smaller fixed fee and a backend deal, and therefore benefited from that arrangement. The same was true for Aditya, who also came in with a smaller fixed fee and a backend. He ended up making a significant upside along with us. That’s how you distribute both the risk and the reward,” she said.A budget that kept stretchingThe controlled production didn’t stay that way for long. Deshpande admitted the film’s cost eventually doubled from its original estimate, reshaping it into a far larger project than planned. However, while Dhurandhar's success remains one for the books, Ranveer currently, is embroiled in controversy around Farhan Akhtar's Don 3. The controversy goes back five months, when Ranveer exited Don 3, a film he had been signed on to headline for several years. His departure in December 2025, according to him, was driven by script changes.The timing of the exit added further attention to the fallout, coming just days after the box office success of his film Dhurandhar. The production house behind Don 3, Excel Entertainment, led by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, later alleged that the actor’s exit had caused significant financial and scheduling disruption during pre-production. The banner also claimed Singh had repeatedly delayed the project due to scheduling conflicts before eventually stepping away. Last week, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) issued a non-cooperation directive against the actor over his sudden exit from the film. Ranveer has not personally responded to the controversy, however, his team issued a statement, maintaining that the actor would handle the dispute with 'dignity'. “Throughout the recent developments surrounding Don 3, he has consciously chosen to maintain silence, believing that professional discussions and personal equations are best handled with dignity, maturity and mutual respect," a part of the statement read. Lakshana is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist with over a decade of experience. She covers a wide range of stories—from community and health to mental health and inspiring people features.