India’s highest-paid actress earns ₹30 crore per film, has no release in 6 years, yet beat Deepika, Alia Bhatt, Kareena

While the fees of actors in Indian cinema are a heavily guarded secret, every once in a while, news reports and dignified rumours break the iron curtain and lay bare the astronomical amounts our superstars charge per film.

Even as male superstars are now charging in excess of ₹100 crore per film, their female counterparts are catching up. The title of the highest-paid actress in India recently changed hands as one star bagged a massive ₹30 crore payday for essentially what is her comeback film.

India’s highest-paid actress

Priyanka Chopra returns to Indian cinema after almost six years with SS Rajamouli’s next starring Mahesh Babu. The film will mark Priyanka’s return to South cinema in over 20 years as well. Bollywood Hungama reported earlier this year that Priyanka charged a whopping ₹30 crore for the film, the highest ever by an Indian actress for one film. “This is why they took so long to announce her participation in the project. She was not willing to budge over her fee, and why should she? Why should only the men actors get double-digit salaries in our films?” a source in the know informed the portal.

Interestingly, Priyanka had earlier charged a higher amount – $5 million (over ₹41 crore) for her Amazon Prime Video show Citadel. But given that it was a six-hour runtime, the amount was justified. Her ₹30-crore fees for SSMB29 (what they are calling Mahesh Babu and Rajamouli’s next) is the highest for a female star for any Indian film.

Who Priyanka Chopra beat

Till Priyanka signed on the dotted line for Rajamouli’s jungle adventure, Deepika Padukone had been the highest-paid Indian actress, courtesy of her ₹20 crore fees for Kalki 2898 AD. Their ‘junior’, Alia Bhatt, reportedly charges up to ₹15 crore per film, while the likes of Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu all charge ₹10 crore or more per project.

Priyanka Chopra’s ‘comeback’ to Indian cinema

Since she moved to the US in 2015, Priyanka Chopra has hardly been seen in Indian films. After the release of Jai Gangaajal in 2016, she only appeared in one Indian film – Shonali Bose’s The Sky Is Pink, which was released in 2019. Her all-women road trip film Jee Le Zaraa with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif is indefinitely delayed, which has meant she has not had an Indian film in theatres or OTT in six years. Priyanka has been busy with work during this period, though, appearing in Citadel and films like The White Tiger, The Matrix Resurrections, and Love Again. She also has Heads of State with Idris Elba and John Cena lined for release this year. But SSMB29 will be her true comeback to Indian films.