A lot is said on how much an actor or an actress get paid for a film, but everyone seems to forget about the captain of the ship; the director. Today, we’ll take a look at how much the most popular directors in Bollywood get paid. Of course, over the years, a lot has changed. Directors, who were in the number one then, are no longer on the same ranking today.
Raj Kumar Hirani
Popular thanks to the ‘Munnabhai’ series as well as ‘3 Idiots’, Raj Kumar Hirani gets up to 20 crore per film plus he gets 25 per cent of the film’s profit.
Imtiaz Ali
Director of huge hit films such as ‘Rockstar’, ‘Love Aaj Kal’, and ‘Jab We Met’, Imtiaz Ali acts as both the director and writer or co-writer of his films. With the exception of his debut film, all of his films have been huge hits.
Rohit Shetty
Like Imtiaz Ali, Rohit Shetty didn’t have a good start in the industry. But since the release of his ‘Golmaal’ series, Rohit has been on the “hit” road. He’s never had a flop since then. Some of his biggest films have crossed more than 100 crores, films like ‘Bol Bachchan’ and ‘Singham’.
Anees Bazmee
If you need a man to direct your mindless comedy films, Anees Bazmee is the man for you. Having directed a lot of the same genre, Anees has had more hits than flops in the recent times. Some of his popular films are ‘Singh is King’ and ‘Ready’.
Farah Khan
Farah Khan is the first female director, who truly made it in this industry. Her first two directorial films were huge successes for her and everything went well until she decided to break her partnership with Shah Rukh Khan. Most female directors would opt to work on something that is more of a female-centric type of films, but not Farah. She has always been all about commercial and commercial. Aside from a director, Farah is also a choreographer, who only choreographs for her close friends now.
Rajkumar Santoshi
There were rumours that Rajkumar Santoshi was finding hard to secure a financier for his next film after the success of ‘Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani’. Nevertheless, he happens to be part of the well-known film directors in this country as he has been directing some really good movies for some time now.
Sajid Khan
Unlike his sister Farah Khan, Sajid Khan stuck to his special formula and continued by directing hits after hits. Some of his most successful films include the ‘Housefull’ series and ‘Heyy Babyy’. His favourite actor is Akshay Kumar, as he chose to work only with him. Like Farah Khan too, Sajid Khan is all about commercial and commercial films.
Prabhu Deva
Prabhu Deva was and is a huge director in the South. He started out there with a huge Telugu remake titled ‘Pokkiri’ that had Vijay and Asin in it. Then he remade the same film in Hindi with Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia titled ‘Wanted’. Since then, Prabhu has directed one more Tamil remake with Akshay Kumar titled ‘Rowdy Rathore’. Prabhu also doubles as a choreographer.
Directors with their own Production Companies
Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra
No top directors’ list will be complete without Yash Chopra. He has long stopped making films for other banners since the appearance of his own home banner, Yash Raj. Under Yash Raj, his sons Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra direct movies and since they work for Yash Raj they get a share of the profits from all the films released under their banner.
Karan Johar
Karan Johar is one of the most successful directors in India. He works only for his home production company, Dharma Productions, which was set up by his father Yash Johar. Karan gained full control of the company after his dad passed away some time after the release of ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’.
Rakesh Roshan
Filmkraft Productions is the company set up by Rakesh Roshan after he couldn’t make it as an actor. He directed many successful films, but his most famous movies are the ones with his son Hrithik Roshan in it. Rakesh also always employs his brother Rajesh Roshan as the music director of all of his films. Rakesh is also the first director, who introduced aliens in Bollywood, and he also created India’s first superhero.