Earlier this year, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar were featured in the Forbes magazine’s annual round-up of the world’s 100 highest paid celebrities. Both actors have made it to the coveted top 10 list of highest paid actors in 2016. Khan is at eight with $33 million, and Kumar is at ten with $31.5 million.
Kumar has a phenomenal year, probably the best in his career – he has headlined three hits in 2016, Airlift, Housefull 3 and Rustom. Khan’s star is wobblier than it has been in years, with only the critically acclaimed but underperforming Fan to his credit, but he has a staggering number of endorsements to his name.
The Forbes lists show pre-tax earnings and before the deduction of management fees, and are produced using data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDb and interviews with agents, managers and lawyers, according to a Guardian report.
The combined earnings of both the Indian stars equal Dwayne Johnson’s staggering $64.5 million pay packet. The former wrestler and action and comedy star headlined the disaster movie San Andreas and benefitted from the gargantuan box office performance of Furious 7 in 2015. Robert Downey Jr was previously at the top of the list for the Iron Man films, and he has now slipped down to number 9, between Khan and Kumar.
The list for actresses that was released earlier has Deepika Padukone at number 10 with $10 million – which is more than $20 million less than Akshay Kumar at the bottom of the other pile.
The third Asian actor on the Forbes list of high-earning men is Jackie Chan, who is not far behind Johnson with $61 million. Hollywood predictably dominates the list, but the Asians are catching up fast.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!