Forbes is an American business magazine which is published bi-weekly and features original articles in the domain of finance, industry, investing, and marketing. The magazine is famous for its lists and rankings in various domains like business, the entertainment industry, etc. Recently, the Forbe’s list of the 20 highest paid actors was released. The data for this list was collected from between June 1, 2015, through June 1, 2016, before fees and taxes. The four Bollywood actors who secured a spot on the list include Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, and Amitabh Bachchan.
Here is the complete list
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Dwayne Johnson, $64.5M
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Jackie Chan at, 61M
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Matt Damon, $55 M
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Tom Cruise, $53 M
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Johnny Depp, $48 M
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Ben Affleck, $43M
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VinDiesel, $35M
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Shah Rukh Khan, $33M
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Robert Downey Jr., $33M
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Akshay Kumar and Brad Pitt, $31.5M
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Adam Sandler and Mark Wahlberg, $30M
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Salman Khan $28.5M
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Leonardo DiCaprio, $27M
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Chris Pratt, $26M
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Will Smith, $20.5M
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Amitabh Bachchan, $20M
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Matthew McConaughey, $18M
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Harrison Ford, $15M
The list is lead by Dwayne Johnson a.k.a The Rock, at $64.5 million.
While Shah Rukh Khan was missing in the list the last year, he made a powerful comeback as the highest paid Bollywood actor. Forbes said,
Khan continues to rule Bollywood’s box office with the lead role in hit Dilwale and many others, earning multimillion-dollar upfront fees and a cut of the back-end for his efforts. He also cashes in on endorsement deals for dozens of brands most Americans have likely never heard of.
Akshay Kumar emerged as the next highest paid Bollywood actor at $31.5M, which equals the Hollywood sensation, Brad Pitt. Forbes said,
One of Bollywood’s busiest leading men, Kumar banked top rupee for three hit films in our scoring period. The action star bolsters his earnings endorsing a wider range of products than most Hollywood shills: Honda motorcycles, a dairy producer and a gold loan company, among others.
Salman Khan slid downwards in the list this year. Last year, he stood 7th with $33M. About him, Forbes wrote,
One of Bollywood’s leading men, Khan makes top rupee from movies such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan and numerous endorsements. 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.
Following Salman, Amitabh Bachchan also lost his lead and slid down from the 7th position to 18th in the list this year. Forbes wrote,
Bollywood stalwart has starred in more than 150 movies in a career that spans five decades. The 73-year-old is busy as ever: he appeared in four films during our scoring period.
A debutante in this list and the highest paid Indian actress is Deepika Padukone, who made a whopping $10 million to rank on the annual list.
Another aspect that this list reveals is the Wage Gap.
Wage gaps are prevalent in every profession. Even Bollywood suffers from this problem.
The highest paid actor Shah Rukh Khan making over $23 million more than the highest-paid Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone. When the numbers stack up, some of the glamours do get washed away from the industry.
“I don’t really understand why we are paid less than the male actors because we put in equal effort and the recent past has shown that actresses can deliver a hit film. We deserve better pay, equal to what actors get,” Wazir star Aditi Rao Hydari told Press Trust of India.
It’s high time we stop this inequality and start treating and paying women equally.
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