After Deool Band 2 crossed the Rs 100 crore mark at the box office, the makers donated the film’s entire profit after recovering its production cost, director Pravin Tarde has revealed. According to the filmmaker, the profits were donated towards the education of children of farmers who died by suicide. Tarde, who recently revealed that Deool Band 2 may not have seen the light of day without Shah Rukh Khan’s intervention, spoke about the film’s success and its philanthropic efforts in an interview with Pinkvilla.

Tarde, whose family comes from a farming background and actively participates in farming in Maharashtra, said, “What made Deool Band 2 a unique film across India? The film earned Rs 100 crore. We only took the production cost for ourselves. However, every single penny that we earned from that film as profir was donated.”

He explained that the money was used to support the education of children of farmers who died by suicide. “We donated it to the kids of the farmers who died by suicide. It was donated with the intention that they could resume their education. We started distributing money to kids belonging to drought-hit areas of Maharashtra,” he said.

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Tarde added that the team also provides two meals a day to around 250 children through the film’s earnings and plans to continue doing so in the coming years. He credited producer Kailash Vani for supporting the initiative.

Deool Band 2 was a social commentary on farmer suicides and was reportedly made on a budget of Rs 8-10 crore.

When Shah Rukh Khan waived off Rs 42 lakh bill for makers of Deool Band 2

It was the film’s limited budget that led to a major hurdle before its release. The makers could not afford a bill of Rs 42 lakh from Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment for obtaining the Digital Cinema Package (DCP), a format required to screen films on digital cinema projectors.

The makers had initially budgeted around Rs 12 lakh for the process but were given an estimate of nearly Rs 42 lakh.

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Recalling the difficult situation, Tarde told Abhijat Marathi Filmy, “The bill came to Rs 42 lakh. We didn’t have that kind of money, nor did we have any source from where we could arrange it. We approached Red Chillies and explained our situation. We told them that it was a Marathi film, a regional film, and our budget was limited. But we wanted to release it on a large scale and requested their support.”

The request eventually reached Shah Rukh Khan.

Tarde recalled that the actor asked his technical team about the matter. “They told him it was a film by the makers of Mulshi Pattern. Since Mulshi Pattern was later remade as Antim by Salman Khan, Shah Rukh was aware of our work. He then enquired about Deool Band 2. His team told him it was a well-made emotional film and that the makers wanted the DCP but couldn’t afford the cost. The DCP was ready, but it hadn’t been handed over because the dues were pending,” Tarde said.

The filmmaker added: “Shah Rukh Khan simply said, ‘Waive off their bill.’ He told them, ‘It’s a Marathi film. Give them the DCP. We can sort out the payments later. If it’s a good film, give them the DCP.’ They showed tremendous respect towards Marathi cinema. For him, the film was more important than the money. I credit all these people for the success of the film.”