‘Welcome To The Jungle’ Was Made On Just ₹125 Crore, Claims Director Ahmed Khan; Dismisses Big Budget Speculation
Mumbai: Amid widespread speculation over the production cost of Welcome to the Jungle, director Ahmed Khan has claimed that the multi starrer comedy was completed on a budget of ₹115 crore to ₹125 crore, significantly lower than earlier reports that estimated the film’s cost at ₹200-300 crore.
In a recent interview, Khan said the film’s total expenditure including the ensemble cast, action sequences, songs, and other production expenses did not exceed ₹125 crore, even after factoring in interest costs. According to the filmmaker, the movie has already recovered its investment through the sale of digital, satellite, music, and overseas rights, meaning that its theatrical earnings now contribute directly to profits.
The clarification comes after months of speculation surrounding the scale of the Akshay Kumar led entertainer. Given its massive cast featuring more than 30 actors, many industry observers had assumed the film carried a much higher production budget. Khan, however, rejected those assumptions, saying he has always worked within the financial limits set by producers and does not believe in unnecessary overspending.
Trade reports have also suggested that the film’s cost was kept under control because Akshay Kumar reportedly chose a profit sharing arrangement instead of charging his usual upfront acting fee. According to industry estimates, around ₹60 crore was spent on production, nearly ₹35 crore on the ensemble cast, while the remaining amount covered the director, technical crew, print, and publicity expenses.
Despite its relatively modest claimed budget, the film was anything but small in scale. Khan previously revealed that the production involved around 700 to 900 people on set every day, nearly 150 members in actors entourages, 50 vanity vans, and approximately 250 vehicles to manage the logistics of the ambitious shoot. The movie was reportedly completed in just 75 shooting shifts, a feat the director described as one of the production’s biggest achievements.
Welcome to the Jungle, the latest installment in the popular Welcome franchise, features an extensive ensemble led by Akshay Kumar, alongside Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Jackie Shroff, Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever, Lara Dutta and several other well known actors.
The budget discussion has attracted significant attention within the industry because production costs often shape a film’s commercial expectations. While some earlier reports pegged the project at over ₹200 crore, Ahmed Khan’s latest remarks have presented a very different financial picture, positioning Welcome to the Jungle as a large scale entertainer produced within a comparatively controlled budget.