Superstar salaries: Akshay Kumar to Deepika Padukone, who earns what

It's no secret that the gender pay gap in the film industry is staggering. Top actresses earn five-to-ten times less than their male counterparts. Akshay Kumar makes the most through films (not commercials or business ventures) while Deepika Padukone is the highest paid.

Deepika charged Rs12 crore for Padmaavat and Bollywood's most sought-after actress did not hide the fact that she was paid more than her co-stars Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. Deepika's fat Padmaavat pay cheque was in return for 200 committed dates which is not the amount of time Deepika allots to normal projects. Deepika's market price is anywhere between Rs 8 and Rs 10 crore per film.

Priyanka Chopra is charging Rs6.5 crore for her big Bollywood comeback opposite Salman Khan in Bharat. Hindi cinema's golden girl Anushka Sharma has been part of Rs300 crore hits like PK and Sultan. She charges Rs6-Rs7 crore. The Queen of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut increased her price post the super success Tanu Weds Manu Returns, but she failed to recreate the same kind of magic at the box office forcing her to slash her price to Rs5-Rs6 crore per film.

With Raazi's unprecedented 122-crore-plus success, Alia Bhatt has cemented her place as one of cinema's most bankable actresses. Alia charges between Rs4 crore and Rs5 crore for a single movie. Veere Di Wedding stars Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor also charge between Rs5 crore and Rs 6 crore while Katrina Kaif charges in the range of Rs4-Rs5 crore.

SUPERSTAR SALARIES: FEMALE

DEEPIKA PADUKONE: Rs12 CR FOR PADMAAVAT (ALLOTED 200DAYS)
MARKET PRICE: Rs10 CR
PRIYANKA CHOPRA: Rs6.5 CR FOR BHARAT
ANUSHKA SHARMA: Rs6.5 CR
KANGANA RANAUT: Rs6 CR
KAREENA KAPOOR : Rs6 CR
SONAM KAPOOR- 5CR
ALIA BHATT: Rs4-Rs5CR
KATRINA KAIF: Rs4.5 CR
PARINEETI CHOPRA: Rs1-Rs2 CR
JACQUELINE & SHRADDHA: Rs1.5 CR
SONAKSHI SINHA: Rs1 CR
BHUMI PEDNEKER, TAPSEE PANNU AND KRITI SANON: Rs 50LACS.

SUPERSTAR SALARIES: MALE

SALMAN KHAN: MINIMUM Rs50 CR + PRODUCTION
AKSHAY KUMAR: MINIMUM Rs40-Rs50 CR + PRODUCTION
AAMIR KHAN : MINIMUM Rs50 CR + PRODUCTION
SRK & HRITHIK ROSHAN: Rs40-Rs45 CR + PRODUCTION
AJAY DEVGN: Rs25 CR + PRODUCTION
RANBIR KAPOOR & RANVEER SINGH: Rs20 CR
AMITABH BACHCHAN: Rs18 CR
FOR PIKU AMITABH BACHCHAN TOOK Rs 8 CR, DEEPIKA WAS PAID Rs 10 CR
SHAHID KAPOOR: Rs10-Rs15 CR
FOR PADMAAVAT, BOTH SHAHID & RANVEER WERE PAID Rs10 CR EACH
TIGER SHROFF: RS5-RS6 CR
PRABHAS: PAID ES25 CR FOR BAAHUBALI 2. NOW, CHARGES RS30 CR

As far as male actors are concerned, mid- and low-level stars are paid by producers. Top stars like Akshay, Salman, SRK and Aamir Khan produce almost all of their projects themselves. So there's no fixed return per film for these stars. In most cases, top stars keep the intellectual property rights (IPR) of the film.

Once they own the IPR, they own the satellite rights and the remake rights of the film. Recently, Race 3 satellite rights were sold for a whopping Rs140 crore, the highest amount earned by an Indian film for satellite rights. Then there's a percentage of profit, or the profit-sharing formula. The actor doesn't charge his normal market price but opts for a share of the profit. So, his remuneration depends on how well the film does at the box office.

In some cases, an actor who is also producing the film keeps the distribution rights of the film. He could choose favourable sectors in which he thinks the film is expected to do well. Take Race 3 for example-Salman retained all the profitable sectors like Delhi-Punjab, UP and Mumbai. The film made Rs43.50 cror in Delhi-Punjab while it fetched Rs39.50 cror in Mumbai and Maharashtra. So, most of the profit went back to Salman.

The Dabangg star sold the distribution rights for the rest of the sectors like Gujarat, Rajasthan, central India, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, etc for a whopping Rs63 crore. Distributors made anywhere between Rs45 crore and Rs50 crore in these sectors. They suffered a loss of approximately Rs13 crore while Salman minted more than Rs120 crore from a film which has been labelled flop!
HOW & WHAT B'WOOD SUPERSTARS CHARGE

1. IPR (INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS)

- REMAKE RIGHTS
- SATELLITE RIGHTS
- 5-YEAR RENEWABLE CONTRACTS


2. PERCENTAGE OF PROFIT

- ACTOR DOESN'T CHARGE MARKET PRICE
- OPTS FOR 30-50% OF PROFIT
- ACTOR GETS PAID ONLY IF THE FILM IS A HIT

3. DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS

- ACTOR RETAINS DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS
- ACTOR CHOOSES FAVOURABLE SECTORS

Remember, Salman reportedly returned distributors as much as Rs35 crore after Tubelight failed to light up the box office. Sabse Bada Khiladi Akshay Kumar had given his nod for the Gulshan Kumar biopic, but sources suggest that the producer offered Akshay anywhere between Rs27 crore and Rs30 crore for the film.

Given the super success of Jolly LLB 2, Rustom, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Padman and almost every other Akshay film, the actor's market price increased to Rs45-Rs50 crore. Akshay also wanted to retain the IPR of the film. Superstars such as Akshay and Aamir enter into a profit-sharing deal with producers where they take 70-80% of the profit while the producer gets around 20-30%.

Aamir Khan is conspicuously missing from Forbes highest paid actors list every year, but Dangal & Secret Superstar's Indian & Chinese collections crossed 1500 crores at the ticket windows. UTV-Disney were co-producers on Dangal sources suggest that Aamir entered into a 80-20 contract that with his co-producers which means Aamir took 80% of the profit. Aamir reportedly also had a similar arrangement with YRF for Dhoom 3 thus Aamir made more money on Dhoom 3 than producers Yash Raj Films.

Aamir shared his profit sharing mantra with India Today TV. "I don't charge fees up front on a film. I want the freedom to do what I want to do; I don't want the market telling me, 'Why are you choosing this film? Why don't you choose a big film?' I am not charging money.

So, let me do what I want to do. If the film does not do well, I don't earn because the first money that comes goes towards covering the cost of the film. I only get paid if the film does well. If it makes a profit, I get a percentage of the profits. If the film is not liked, I don't deserve to earn."

The actor confessed, "I get a phone call from Forbes every year with the query how much I earn, how many ads I have done, how much I earn through ads? See the way I have been brought up, it is very distasteful for me to talk about how much I earn. I find it very odd to say that I earn this much. So, I don't feature on the Forbes list."

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

AKSHAY KUMAR

- INCREASED PRICE AFTER CONSECUTIVE SUPERHITS
- REPORTED FALLOUT WITH T SERIES OVER MOGHUL
- SOURCES: AKSHAY MARKET PRICE IS 45 CRORE


AAMIR KHAN

- REPORTEDLY HAD A 80:20 DEAL WITH UTV FOR DANGAL
- 80% PROFIT FOR AAMIR, 20% FOR UTV
- REPORTEDLY, MADE MORE THAN YRF FOR DHOOM 3

SALMAN KHAN

DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS FOR RACE 3
- DELHI, UP, MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA: PROFITABLE SECTOR RETAINED
- DELHI-UP & PUNJAB: RS43.50 CR
MUMBAI, MAHARSHTRA: RS39.50 CRORE
SOLD: GUJARAT, RAJASTHAN, CENTRAL INDIA, WEST BENGAL, TAMIL NADU FOR RS63 CRORE
DISTRIBUTORS RECOVERED RS45-50 CRORE (RS13 CRORE LOSS)

So, who is India's highest-paid superstar? Aamir is out of the race as the actor is very selective about his projects and returns to the big screen after a two-to-three-year gap.

Akshay has never had a Rs200-crore or Rs300-crore hit. So, what Akshay makes from four films, Salman does from two. But Akshay is certainly ahead in the competition simply because he guarantees a profit and keeps most of it. Akshay signs relatively low-budget films, profit is huge and he does three-to-four films a year.

ALSO SEE: Varun Dhawan rides high on Judwaa 2 success, hikes fee to Rs 25 crore?

ALSO READ: Prabhas is too costly at Rs 20 crore but Varun Dhawan deserves Rs 25 crore per film?

WATCH: Padmaavat is a celebration of womanhood: Deepika Padukone