Tamil actor Vijay Antony, keeping in mind the coronavirus pandemic and its adverse effects on the entertainment industry, announced on Tuesday a cut in remuneration of Rs 1 crore for his upcoming three projects. At present, Vijay Antony has three Tamil projects titled Tamizharasan, Agni Siragugal, and Khaki. 

In a statement, Vijay said, "As Tamil cinema got affected due to coronavirus lockdown from March 2020, the completion and releases of these three films were delayed by three months and by the time these films release, it may take another 3-4 months. Considering the loss that will be incurred by the producers of these three films and with a view to supporting them overcome from this situation, Vijay Antony came forward and offered a 25% reduction in his salary for these films." 

The 25% pay cut can be estimated to Rs 1 crore per project. Producer T Siva commented on Vijay's noble gesture to reduce salary and said, "It is very kind of Vijay Antony to accept salary reduction considering the situation we are in due to the lockdown for over 50 days. We request that all actors and technicians should also come forward and accept reduced salaries so that the overall cost of all the current film producers reduces to tide over this crisis that all of us are facing currently."

Another producer, on the condition of anonymity, told Hindustan Times that all actors should be willing to reduce their salary. "It’s not going to be easy to return to normalcy when all this is over. It will take a while before a lot of producers would even think of going back to the sets. Keeping in mind the current scenario, every rupee saved would make a lot of difference. It will benefit a lot of producers if actors welcome the decision to reduce their salaries. It’s the need of the hour," he had said.