Salman Khan tops Forbes India celebrity list

11 of top 20 see decline in earnings

Actor Salman Khan continues to rule the Forbes Top 100 Celebrity list (2017) for a second year in a row. He is followed by Shah Rukh Khan and Virat Kohli in second and third places, respectively, also the same as last year. Akshay Kumar also managed to retain his position at number four. 

Numbers 5 to 10, however, saw some heavy shake-up. Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone found themselves out of the top-10, making way for Ranveer Singh (number 10), and Aamir Khan (number 6). Former Indian cricket skipper M S Dhoni slipped three places from number 5 last year to number 8 this year. Sachin Tendulkar gained two spots to reach number 5. Priyanka Chopra (rank 7; earnings Rs 68 crore) was the sole woman in the top 10.

Brian Carvalho, editor, Forbes India, said, “As in previous years, Bollywood and cricket rule the list, with 46 actors and 15 cricketers (out of 21 sportspeople). But, beyond the Khans, Kapoor and Kohli, there are names that provide a breath of fresh air. Also, high-achievers such as Priyanka Chopra, P V Sindhu, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and 17 other women have shone bright on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, which is why three of the five covers we’ve created for this special issue have women gracing them.”

The earnings of the celebrities have gone down, and in some cases, significantly. Salman Khan’s went from Rs 270.33 crore to Rs 232.83 crore. SRK’s earnings went from Rs 221.75 crore to Rs 170.50 crore. In all, 11 of the top 20 celebrities saw a dip in earnings. 

Of the top 100 celebrities on the list, the highest gainer was shuttler P V Sindhu who went from 62 in 2016 to 13 this year. The other big gainer was actor Ajay Devgn, who went from 70 to 16 in a year. 

The biggest loser in terms of ranking was tennis player Sania Mirza, slipping from 29 to 98. South Indian actor Allu Arjun also saw a decline in ranking from 27 to 81.

There were 14 celebrities from South Indian cinema among the 100 celebrities this year, contributing 11.6 per cent (Rs 310.36 crore) of the total value. The success of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion propelled director S S Rajamouli to number 15, with earnings of Rs 55 crore, lead actor Prabhas to number 22 (Rs 36.25 crore) and Rana Dagubatti, the negative lead, to rank 36 (Rs 22 crore).

The three of them are new entrants on the list this year and command four per cent of the total earnings of the top 100.