Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Akshay Kumar featured in Forbes magazine’s list of ‘World’s Highest Paid Actors‘, ranked at number 8 and number 10 respectively. Released on 25 August, the list also has Bollywood heavyweights Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan. The list is dominated by male Hollywood actors hailing from the US. Notable exceptions are Jackie Chan at number 2, and actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa McCarthy. Also on the list is Bollywood’s Deepika Padukone.
Number one on the list is WWE wrestler turned Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. Here’s the top 10 according to Forbes:
1. Dwayne Johnson, 64.5 million
2. Jackie Chan, $61 million
3. Matt Damon, $55 million
4. Tom Cruise, $53 million
5. Johnny Depp, $48 million
6. Jennifer Lawrence $46 million
7. Ben Affleck, $43 million
8. Vin Diesel, $35 million
9. Melissa McCarthy, Shah Rukh Khan and Robert Downey Jr, $33 million
10. Brad Pitt and Akshay Kumar, $31.5 million
Shahrukh Khan, who was number 1 last year, has made the list since 2012. He continues to be among the top 10 owing to numerous endorsement deals and films like Dilwale and Fan, wrote the magazine.
Akshay Kumar, who has had four releases this year in addition to five releases from last year, ranked number 10 with $31.5 million in earnings. According to Forbes, said he endorsed “a wider range of products than most Hollywood shills: Honda motorcycles, a dairy producer and a gold loan company, among others”.
Salman Khan, ranked number 14 with $28.5 million in earnings, has his 2015 blockbuster hit Bajrangi Bhaijaan to thank. Interestingly, Forbes mentions the hit-and-run case against Salman Khan. “In May 2015 he was sentenced to five years in prison for a 2002 hit-and-run car incident which killed a homeless man; his sentence was suspended,” wrote the magazine.
Amitabh Bachchan, who ranked number 7 last year, now stands at number 18 with $20 million in earnings. Forbes wrote, “The 73-year-old is busy as ever: he appeared in four films during our scoring period,” writes the magazine.
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Deepika Padukone was the only newcomer in the world’s highest paid actresses list, and also becomes the first Indian to make that list. Padukone ranks number 10 in the list of ‘World’s Highest Paid Actresses’. Other actresses on the list include Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston. Padukone, who debuts in Hollywood with xXx: Return of Xander Cage next year, has raked in $10 million in earnings.
The list exemplified the pay gap that exists between actors and actresses in cinema. Highest-paid Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan made $23 million more than the highest-paid Indian actress Deepika Padukone. Overall, while over eight male actors made over $20 million, only four actresses made more than that.