The highest-paid actors in India often rake in over Rs 200 crore per film these days, depending on how the film does at the box office. That is an extremely high figure, more so considering that just three decades ago, nobody was even charging Rs 1 crore, not even Amitabh Bachchan or Rajinikanth, the reigning superstars. And then one man changed all that – a megastar from down south, who beat these stalwarts.
When Chiranjeevi became bigger than Bachchan
In September 1992, Stardust magazine carried a cover story on Telugu star Chiranjeevi. The headline screamed: ‘Bigger than Bachchan’. It may have been a bold proclamation was not inaccurate in one manner. Chiranjeevi had just become the highest-paid actor in India, charging a whopping Rs 1.25 crore for the Telugu film Aapadbandhavudu. This made him the first Indian actor to earn Rs 1 crore or more for a single film. Even Bachchan, the reigning king of box office, was charging under Rs 90 lakh per film at the time.
Chiranjeevi’s rise to stardom
Chiranjeevi began his film journey in the early 80s and establishd himself as the star of the masala entertainers. By the turn of the decade, he was easily the number one hero in Telugu cinema. The actor delivered back-to-back superhits in the 90s and was,virtually, the undisputed king of Telugu filmdom. This dominance earned him the moniker of ‘Megastar’, to differentiate him from other ‘superstars’ in the fray. Chiranjeevi quit acting in 2008 after a brief lull and a decision to enter politics. He returned to films in a triumphant fashion with Khaidi No 150, and followed it up with blockbusters like Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, GodFather, and Waltair Veerayya. Chiranjeevi was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour in 2024.
Subsequent entrants in the ‘1-crore club’
After Chiranjeevi broke the glass ceiling for actors with Aapadbandhavudu, several other leading actors also increased their remuneration. Kamal Haasan was the first to follow suit in 1994, followed by Rajinikanth. The first actor from Bollywood to charge Rs 1 crore for a film was Amitabh Bachchan, when he returned from his sabbatical in 1996. Three young actors – Shah Rukh, Salman, and Aamir – also joined the fray a year or two later. By the end of the decade, Chiranjeevi’s contemporaries in the Telugu film industry - Nagarjuna and Venkatesh were also charging over a crore each per film.
