Shah Rukh Khan unseats Salman Khan as India’s top-earning celeb

Shah Rukh Khan has regained his position as India’s top-earning celebrity with estimated earnings of Rs 257.5 crore this year, pushing Salman Khan to the second position in the latest Forbes list.

Shah Rukh had lost his top rank to ‘friend and archrival’ Salman last year and had slipped to the third position, Forbes said in its annual India Celebrity List for 2015 today.

Incidentally, the list comes a day after Salman Khan was acquitted by Bombay High Court in a nearly 13-year-old hit and run case.

Salman’s estimated earnings, as per the latest list, stands at Rs 202.75 crore — more than Rs 50 crore less than that of Shah Rukh Khan. Amitabh Bachchan is at third position, down from his second position last year.

Forbes said the total wealth of top 100 celebrities stood at Rs 2,819 crore, while cinema and cricket dominate the top-ten positions. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ranked fourth and is followed by Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan in top-ten.

Besides the earnings estimates, the overall Celebrity 100 list also takes into account the fame. “Their gross pre-tax earnings are combined with their fame scores to arrive at the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List,” the magazine said.

In terms of earnings alone also, 50-year-old Shah Rukh topped the list while Salman is at the second position. However, Akshay Kumar ranks higher at third position in terms of earnings and is followed by Dhoni and Bachchan at fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Forbes said Shah Rukh’s estimated earnings at Rs 257.5 crore is the highest ever any celebrity has made in the four-year history of the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list.

“In fact, his earnings make up as much as 9 per cent of the total wealth of the top 100 celebrities this year – Rs 2,819 crore,” it said, although he still lags behind at number-four in terms ‘fame’ ranking where 73-year-old Bachchan reigns at the top position.

Aamir Khan has made it to the top five for the first time. He is at number 5 on the list this year and his superhit movie PK and revenues from brand endorsements helped him rake in an estimated Rs 104.25 crore, his highest in the last four years.

“It is an increase of 145 per cent to the amount he earned in 2012. On the other hand, Alia Bhatt and Madhuri Dixit have moved up the list despite any movie release in the time period under consideration (October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015).

Their rise on the list is entirely due to earnings from brand endorsements and their fame quotient,” Forbes said.

The list this year has also witnessed a few who jumped ranks and moved up considerably higher in just one year. Among the top-three rank gainers are Dhanush (who moved up 41 ranks) and is at number 37, Rohit Sharma and Allu Arjun (both moved up 38 ranks) and are at number 12 and number 42, respectively.

This year’s list has 14 debutants, among them cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, who comes in straight at number 31.

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli and actor Prabhas make it to the list due to the monster hit Baahubali.

There were more dropouts this year though — 19 celebs lost their ranks on the Celebrity 100 list for 2015 including Sanjay Leela Bhansali, A R Murugadoss and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Inputs by PTI

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Amod Pandit

Quiet, resonant, and creative, he can be seen immersed in his own world, and puts in his heart and soul into the one passion that he has, Bollywood. His line for survival? Feel happy to be a part of it.