When it comes to the leading ladies of Bollywood, their earnings from ads and films don’t come even close to what the leading actors are getting. Aamir Khan recently said that actors are paid more because they are what brings the audience to theatres. If the day happens when a leading lady can bring the audience to the theatre, then she will be paid more. I think that’s the case with Katrina Kaif. She seems to be everyone’s lucky mascot. But still, she doesn’t get paid as much as Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar does. Bear in mind that these actors and actresses have to pay their own staff from the same paycheck that they receive for their work from ads or films. Since last year, a rule has been established to make all stars pay for their own staff to keep a movie’s budget low. Let’s look on to see who charges the most in Bollywood among the leading actresses.
Priyanka Chopra
I have to say Priyanka Chopra being the highest paid actress in Bollywood right now is well-deserved. She works really really hard and yet, she doesn’t show off about it as her acting talent speaks for herself. And now she has proved her singing talent as well. She has a National Award for ‘Fashion’ and when she asked 9 crore for the ‘Zanjeer’ remake, they gave it to her on a platter. The remake of ‘Zanjeer’ will see her alongside Telugu superstar Ram Charan Teja.
Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor just tied the knot, so she needs the cash more now! That said, Kareena has proved herself to be a fine actress over the years. It does help that she has a personality, a carefree one at that. As far as her payments from films are concerned, she signed ‘Heroine’ for 8 crore and from ads, she makes about 3 crores.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Now this is the most puzzling one of them all! Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has not signed a film in more than two years. ‘Heroine’ was the last film that she signed and then she got pregnant and we all know what happened after that. The highest she was ever paid was for ‘Enthiran – The Robot’, which was 4 crores, but for ads alone, Aishwarya gets about 4 crores.
Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif is Bollywood’s biggest mystery in many ways. Sh is super famous and knows very well how to milk it for money. She is so hardworking that she never leaves any opportunity to earn more money, whether it be dancing at weddings or cutting ribbons here and there. If only she didn’t change her face! Now she just looks like a cold stepmother. Still, her popularity cannot be mistaken for something else, other than she has this mystery factor about her that the audience is curious to know. Katrina gets about 4 crores from ads and for films, she charges 4 crores as well.
Bipasha Basu
I find it hard to believe that Bipasha Basu is on this list. I mean, she just managed to get her first hit with ‘Raaz 3’ after a really really long time. She did sign a Hollywood film titled ‘Singularity’, which might just release this year. So far, Bipasha charges about 3 crore for a film.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika Padukone is one of the brightest stars around. I believe it won’t be long before she enters the top three leads, as soon as Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor retire. Deepika makes a modest 2.5 crores from ads and about 3 crores from films.
Vidya Balan
I am surprised why Vidya Balan is not even in the top three of this list. So far, Vidya is the only heroine whose movies have worked well at the box office and both critics and the audience have always praised her work so far. I think with Vidya charging only 2 crores per film, the budget of the film is low. So when the film has a low budget, there are bigger chances of the film being a huge hit. This has worked well in Vidya’s case since her films do not have a huge superstar in it.
Sonam Kapoor
Sonam Kapoor has not had a hit in a very long time and yet Sonam charges about 1.5 crores for a film, which is very little compared to her contemporaries. She just needs a hit film and the number will go up.
Anushka Sharma
Anushka Sharma makes a modest 1.5 crores from ads and she could be charging the same amount per films, except that we don’t know about it yet. She has also said that doing ads and getting paid this much allows her to be choosy about the type of films that she should do.
Sonakshi Sinha
Katrina Kaif used to be in the exact same spot that Sonakshi Sinha is in now. For appearing in movies here and there, Sonakshi gets paid 1.5 crores per film. Her role is less than 30 minutes in her films each and yet she gets paid this much because most of her films are box office hits. She also charges about 1.25 crores for ads.