Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar – are among the top 10 highest paid actors in the World, outranking many Hollywood A-listers.
The rankings, compiled by Forbes, were released last week and included actors working outside Hollywood, allowing an international comparison of star earnings for the first time. A clear sign of the globalization; even in the film business where outsourcing is catching up with the rest of the Industries.
Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 in the top 10 this year. Robert Downey Jr (a.k.a Iron Man) is the world’s highest-paid actor for the third year in a row.
Bollywood superstars rank ahead of Mark Wahlberg at No. 10 ($32 million), Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson at No. 11 ($31.5 million) and Johnny Depp at No. 12 ($30 million), for instance.
“I am surprised it has taken so long” to get global rankings, said Bollywood publicist Raju Kariya, who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years. India’s male actors, easily recognizable by their aviator sunglasses and tight designer clothes, are so popular that “everyone from 5-year-olds to elderly aunties are completely gaga over them.”
“From Hollywood to Hong Kong and Bollywood, the ranking examines international stars’ earnings for the first truly global dollar tally of film’s flushest stars,” Forbes writer Natalie Robehmed says in the article.
“Though we have long looked at foreign actors starring in the U.S. films — Irishman Liam Neeson, Brit Daniel Craig and Australian Hugh Jackman have all made the Highest-Paid Actors list previously — we have never examined those working solely in international movie industries.”
Altogether, the five Bollywood stars — Shah Rukh Khan, in 18th place, and Ranbir Kapoor, at No. 30 — made Indians the second-highest paid as a group, with combined earnings of $140.5 million.
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