Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Kajol: Bollywood actors who made it to Guinness World Records

According to Forbes, the highest-earning Bollywood star is current Akshay Kumar, aka Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia, who between June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018, earned $40.5 million (£30.4 million). Kumar occupies the 76th slot in Forbes' 100 Highest-Paid Celebrities list and is the only Bollywood star listed. Kumar's income stems largely from royalties from his 130+ movies and endorsements for some 20 different brands.

The highest annual earnings for a Bollywood actress is an estimated 112.8 crore rupees ($15.37 million; £12.04 million) by Deepika Padukone between October 1, 2017, and September 20, 2018, according to the latest available Celebrity 100 data published by Forbes India.

Padukone's most successful Bollywood movie at the box office is Padmaavat, in which she stars as the Rajasthan Queen Padmavati; this historical epic earned $74,630,951 (£54,555,000) at the worldwide box office, although mostly from its domestic audience. Her biggest box-office success was with the Hollywood blockbuster xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which grossed $345,038,228 (£255,700,000) globally and featured the actress in the role of Serena.

Padukone is fourth on the list of top-earning Indian celebrities.

Around 24 members of the Kapoor extended family have acted in films since Prithviraj Kapoor first took to the screen in 1929. He was followed into acting by his three sons, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor along with other relatives through marriage. Other famous relatives through marriage include top star Amitabh Bachchan, directors Ramesh Sippy and Manmohan Desai, and Shashi's sister-in-law, British actress Felicity Kendall. One of Bollywood's current leading ladies, Kareena Kapoor Khan and leading star Ranbir Kapoor, are Prithviraj's great-grandchildren.

Since making his debut in Jeevan Naiya in 1936, Ashok Kumar, affectionately known as Dadamoni, acted continuously for about 63 years. A three-time winner of the Filmfare Best Actor award, his most famous role was in Kismet (1943), which in real terms is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. Ashok continued to play character roles and to make appearances on TV.

The Bollywood actress with the longest film career was Lalita Pawar, who acted continuously for 70 years. She made her debut at the age of 12 and appeared in more than 700 films.

P. Jairaj, who made his debut in 1929, has had an acting career spanning 70 years. Although he has acted in more than 300 films, he was better known for character roles than as a lead.

Kajol, who has starred in a string of recent box office successes, is one of three generations of Bollywood actresses. Her mother Tanuja and aunt Nutan were both leading actresses in the 1960s, while her grandmother Shobhana Samarth starred in numerous 1940s hits.

The most prolific Bollywood lyricist is Shitla 'Sameer' Pandey, who wrote the lyrics to 3,524 songs that appeared in 650 Bollywood movies as verified on 15 December 2015.

Sameers first song appeared in the movie Be-Khabar that was released in 1983.

In a career spanning 27 years Mary Evans, also known as Fearless Nadia, acted in more than 55 movies, 35 of which were opposite the muscleman John Cowas.  She was a stuntwoman from 1934 until her retirement in 1961. Her most famous films include Hunterwali (1935), Jungle Princess (1942) Stunt Queen (1947) and Tigress (1948). Born in Australia in 1909 to an English father and Greek mother, Mary first came to Bombay at the age of five. She returned in the mid-1920s to work in a touring theatre company and got her first big break in Indian films in 1934, in Desh Deepak and Noor-e-Yama. Her stunts included jumping into waterfalls, running on the roofs of train carriages, jumping from moving trains onto horseback and swinging from chandeliers. She changed her name to Nadia on the advice of a fortune-teller and later married the film-maker Homi Wadia.

The greatest number of public appearances by a film star at different cities in 12 hours promoting the same film is seven by Abhishek Bachchan, who walked the red carpet, signed autographs and introduced the film Delhi 6 at cinemas in Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Mumbai, in India, on February 22, 2009. Abhishek travelled 1,800 km in just under 12 hours travelling by car and private jet. At the final location, Mumbai, he was joined on the red carpet by co-star Sonam Kapoor. Abhishek wanted the record not only for himself but also for India and her people.

(Info and Inputs via Guinness World Records)