While movies in Bollywood are crossing the 100 crore mark and increasing their market value and salaries, our Kollywood heroes are not too far behind
VIKRAM 10 crore
KARTHI 10 crore + Telugu rights
Money, money, money… muah! That is not just a line in Ajith‘s latest hit but even the film business. It looks like the business of films is booming not just in Bollywood but also in Kollywood.
The success of the Tamil remake Surya‘s Singam in Bollywood, titled Singham, has landed actor Ajay Devgn in 18 crore pay bracket. This actor used to charge between 6-8 crore per film, and the success of this film has helped him more than double his salary. While there has been an ongoing debate as to whether actors’ salaries in Bollywood is too high considering disproportionate revenues, Kollywood heroes now seem to be riding high on increasing larger pay packets.
With corporate houses now making headway in Kollywood, budgets have increased tremendously.
DHANUSH 7 crore
SIMBU 5 crore
Though Bollywood has seen numerous films with various actors cross the 100 crore mark, in Chennai, only Superstar Rajnikanth can possibly lay claim to that feat. Behind him, three leading heroes – Vijay, Surya and Ajithare said to be in the 15 crore category.
Surya is said to be ruling the roost as producers are willing to pay the actor anywhere from 15 crore along with Telugu rights. Two of his films have crossed the 100 crore mark in Hindi – Ghajini and Singham – and Bollywood is watching his 7am Arivu closely. His market in Andhra Pradesh seems to be increasing and this augurs well for the actor. Adds a trade source, “Today, an actor’s salary can include distribution rights and/or satellite rights along with a salary. In Bollywood, there’s also profit-sharing but in Tamil cinema we don’t have that yet.”
VISHAL 3 crore
Aarya 2 crore
Vijay, who’s loved by the masses, also reportedly charges 15 crore per film. While his last outing, Kavalan, the Tamil remake of Siddique‘s Bodyguard, was not a smash hit, the audience is looking forward to Velayudham to see if the Vijay magic will return on screen. He is still very much in demand by leading producers and directors and his films with Shankar and A.R Murugadossare the talk of the town.
While Ajith‘s last outing Asal was a dampener at the Box Office, his Mankatha has struck gold and has catapulted him to the 15 crore salary – plus one! His ask is always whatever the price of another top hero plus one, say insiders. But his choice to do select movies and capitalize on the success of playing the baddie in his earlier films has definitely helped the actor make a strong comeback on screen.
JEEVA 1.5 crore
AJITH 15 crore
Deiva Thiirumugal had a marketing blitzkrieg in Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh and while the actors’ performances were applauded, the movie did not do as well as expected. But Vikram, say sources, still has a strong market here and his supposed fee is about 10 crore.
Surya‘s brother, Karthi, has also proved he can set cash registers ringing at the BO and trade sources say producers are willing to pay him his fee of 8-10 crore along with the Telugu rights. Like his brother, Karthi has been quite successful in Tollywoodas well and they seem to be the only two actors who also take the Telugu rights with their fee.
While Simbu is said to charge about 5 crore per film especially after his extremely successful Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Dhanush, post his National Award for Aadukalam that was a hit, has been riding high on its success and reportedly charges 5-7 crore per flick.
VIJAY 15 crore
SURIYA - 15 crore + Telugu rights
The Avan Ivan pair of Vishal and Aarya who are good friends in real life, are also making their way up the salary scale and doing well for themselves. Sources say that as of now while Vishal charges 3 crore, Aarya charges 2 crore. Vishal again is another actor who is said to have a market in Andhra Pradesh. Jeeva, who has had a very successful year with Ko, is said to be charging around 1.5 crore currently.
Keep logging to this space for the exclusive Tamil Cinema actors Salary list at SouthDreamz.com.
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Unofficial press release of the Salary of tamil actors from Rajinikanth to Vadi velu and the tamil actress.With the Super Star Rajni kanth topping the charts with 30 Crores(30,00,00,000) per movie , Followed by kamal at 25 crores,
Vijay Tops the next gen heroes with 10 crores as salary plus an additional bonus as the chennai city rights,which is estimated around 3 crores while his rival Ajith Settles for just Seven crores,sharing the spot with Vikram.
In Comedy Section, Vadivelu charges Rs 6 Lakh (6,00,000) on Shooting Day.
In The Ladies Section Asin who has made a visit to Bollywood charges Rs 2 crore(2,00,00,000) per movie, while nayanthara and Tamannah are paid 1 crore per movie each.
From the Music Section, A R rahman tops the chart with Rs 3 Crore(3,00,00,000) while haris and Yuvan are paid 1.6 crores, and 1 crore each per movie.
dai karthi naye., nee ennum 10 padam kooda nadikala unakku 10c+telugu rights’a???
dmk familiku approm tamilnattila kollai adikara kudumbam unnodudu thaan da !
Tamil actors salary list 2011
Richly paid Tamil heroes of Today
The silver screen industry is the golden hatch for many a heroes and heroines. Since the days of Sivaji Ganesan and MGR of the 1960s the movie world had got the prominence on the focus of hero rather on the other characters. This indicates that the tradition still continues even today. While on one side the producers guild and the distributors union are making a clarion’s call on schematizing the remuneration for the heroes, the heroes are not in a mood to dislodge their earning capacity. The tussle is on the air now and then but the movies are on as usual. Then what matters the dispute more precipitating is the result of the movie.
When Rajnikanth’s film Baba flopped he was too generous to compensate the distributors by reimbursing their loss. His gesture became a precedence to the industry and when Vijay’s movies flopped one after another in recent two years, the same sort of demand came. But he did not heed to the pressure even facing severe criticism. The distributors made a resolution to boycott Vijay movies in the rebuke but what can a business tact mean. All these sort of hues and cries from the receiving end seems to originate on one prime factor- salary for the heroes. This could be factual if we recollect a deal that Sivaji Ganesan made.
When he was offered the salary for his cameo role in Rajnikanth starred Padaiyappa, the Nadigar Thilagam amazed that he had not received that much of salary even when he was at his peak career. Then what exactly is going on in Kollywood regarding the lion’s share of production cost being fed to the hero. Here’s an analysis of the salary that the heroes are paid despite the result of the movie.
Jeeva
For this low profile actor, the turn around success of Kho has made him step into the steep hike in his salary. Though he hails from the strong family of film production, Super Good films, Jeeva is the one who can fit any measured cloth and tailor made roles. He has no regrets over his flops and he does not rejoice on the winning streaks. But the industry feels other way that his future has to be adjudged on his upcoming movies. This could be true that the recent releases, Rowthiram and Vandan Vendran have not put Jeeva on the talk. His efforts in Kho have made him deserve Rs 1.5 crore. This may either increase or decrease and it lies on his action.
Simbu
The find from Astavadhani T.Rajendran and the capable son proving the proverb, the chip of the old block, Simbu alias STR is a cocktail hero for any story. He has a different version of movie making and he does not compromise on quality for the story. Yet at times, he too dwells on action films just to focus himself to the inferior audience. If his career span is analysed, his action movies would have brought less wealth than the ones which he infused artistic touch like Manmathan. This could be further proved with the runaway success of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. His next film Vaanam procured some relief for his action and now he is too involved in the Tamil remake of Hindi Dabaang titled Osthi. For many years, to say three years, STR receives Rs 5 crore as his pay.
Karthi
An ideal sibling to the talented brother Surya, this assistant director turned-actor has worth behind his shoulder. In all these five years of his career spread his movie list might be less but the value is bigger. From the debut in Paruthiveeran, Karthi could emanate a sense of suitable actor for right story. His success move glided from Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiya, Naan Mahan Alla, Siruthai. The industry alludes him as one of the triumphant heroes in Tamil industry. Like his brother Surya, he too gets the rights for Telugu in addition to the salary of Rs 7 crore.
Dhanush
The National Award winner started his career with his father’s own home production. Dhanush stepped up with care and shrewd applications. Counted on his movie list, his ebb would be less compared to the more lows. Continuous flops taught him good lesson and he is currently more thoughtful of select movies from efficient directors. His breakthrough came from Yaaradi Nee Mohini with Nayanthara. This could be vitrified in Aadukalam but Uthamaputhiran proved to be a futile exercise. Yet he signs movies at the pay package of Rs 7 crore.
Vikram
This Chiyan Vikram is gradually expanding his path towards the peak of excellence and in recent years, his action films have not reached the mass. It seems that he is heading for a saturation on action as he sketched his career on ratio – for every two or three action movies one artistic movie-. It is needless to say that his recent projects in two years – Anniyan and Kandasamy – received big jolts. These two films have dumped his early success like Saami, Dhool. From Beema, the decline started until some revival in Deiva Thirumagal. He has now turned back to his old style for action. His current salary is around Rs 10 crore without any further deals.
Kamal Hassan
Ulaganayagan Kamal Hassan is the one artist who lives and acts for the art. He is not conscious of his salary structure but is fond of fame which is invaluable. To say the truth, he is committed to improve the Tamil film industry and for this sake he is ready to take any challenge and face hindrances. Though he is not able to reach the stardom scale on his varied themes and characters, he too is in the top list of richly paid heroes. He does not receive any rights for any area rather he releases his own production on his own. In all accounts, he gets Rs 10 – 15 crore for a movie but he is flexible to the nature of the theme.
Surya
The flawless hero is on the steep rise almost for the past 5 years. With all his films assuring minimum profit, the producers do not hesitate to book him. Surya too is not avaricious to sign for many films since he feels that he has a vision on his career. To be brief, Surya is choosy about the movies to sign up and is more particular about the theme. He has the intention to do just two films a year but it does depend on the project. After Varanam Aayiram, he made a hat-trick with two action films – Ayan and Aadhavan. Singam’s tremendous collection at the Box Office took Surya into the new heigh. The producers ran into amuck with treasures and additional wealth. Surya receives Rs 15 crore as salary and gets the Telugu rights in addition.
Ilaiyathalapathy Vijay
This Ilayathalapathi had been the sure winner in the race for many years. But as ill luck would have it he had to face the debacle with few films two years ago. This changed the trend in the industry and he had to resort to offensive strategies to overcome the flaw. What makes Vijay differ from other two top contenders, Ajith & Surya, is the penetration among all ages of audience. His simple rendering of action in his movies win him laurels and his sense of humor bring the women audience to the fore. For nearly 80% of his films, he has settled the score by brining fortunes for the producers and the distributors. This is why the distributors had once paid full amount as advance even on the day of pooja for the new film. Now his salary structure stands at Rs 15 crore and since he has a good cinema family background with his father being director, Vijay has the practice of receiving the rights for North Arcot, South Arcot and Chennai (which is usually referred as NSC areas).
Thala Ajith
This Kadhal Mannan is ever the proprietary of speculative collection. At times he offers rich movies like Billa but none can predict the outcome of his movies. Yet, he is the second to Rajni in terms of remuneration for his career. He started his career slowly and in tune with the saying Slow and steady wins the race, he has stabilized his position. For many years, he had been the darling of A centre audience and gradually moved to other centres. His affinity with NIC Arts made him the friendly hero and from this house he gave many films.
Without minding the result of the movies, Ajith does not compromise on the remuneration. His talent show has just been emancipated with the latest Mankatha which has made the whirlwind collection to the distributors and the theatre owners. Though his movies flop at times, he is the most sought after hero after Super star. This is due to the reason that all his films have excellent openings and the fans are craze to adore the Thala. The industry claims that Ajith’s salary is somewhere Rs 17 crore and with the result of Mankatha lifting him to anything else, his salary may near that of superstar soon.
Superstar Rajnikanth
It is to be noted that superstar Rajnikanth has a different scheme of acting for movies. Earlier he had the practice of making movies for nearly 4 or 5 co-producers by making them wealthy and richer. However, he had to be shelled out his salary to the tune of Rs 20 crore, in addition to certain area rights including overseas. Of late, he makes the deal for exclusive salary and do not enter into any rights basis. On this account the industry sources claim that Rajnikanth’s current remuneration would be around Rs 25 – 30 crores.
Yes, the producers are too willing to bet on these green horse hoping to reap the utmost harvest. Yet, the producer must be ready and affordable to spend that much of money without any hitch or hindrance. After Chandramuki which made Sivaji films regain the lost wealth, Rajni procured much coffer to the producers of Sivaji and Enthiran. Since the ensuing Rana happens to be his home production from his daughter Soundarya being one of the co producers, it is to be yet known what would Rajni receive as remuneration.
Conclusion
This is a rough analysis of the salary for the top most Tamil heroes today. These heroes are not bothered about the demands from any corner. Their mission is to go ahead with better movies and their vision is to set their names on a standard basis. The salary structure of certain heroes may sound whooping and it may even exceed the net budget of a low cost movie. Alas, this is the trend which exist in Tamil film industry. Whether the quality sells or the stardom sells, the audience alone can answer. Till then these heroes are rich in status, richer in focus and the richest in remuneration.