Aishwarya outshines Khans in Forbes' most bankable stars list

Slumdog Millionaire may be the toast of the season with its bouquet of Oscar nominations, but Aishwarya Rai has emerged as the most bankable star from India in Hollywood and has been ranked even more valuable than the Khans of Bollywood in a new Forbes list.

Rai is among half a dozen Bollywood actors on the list of “Hollywood’s Most Valuable Actors”, compiled by the American publication known for its rankings of the world's richest persons.

Other Indians on the list include Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Irrfan Khan and Hrithik Roshan.

Although at 387th position in the global list of as many as 1,411 actors from across the world, Rai is ranked highest among all the Indian actors and is the only female actor from the country having made to this elite club. Besides six actors from India, the list also includes an American actor Kal Penn, of Indian origin and has starred in movies like The Namesake.

At 476th position, Penn is ranked higher than all the Bollywood actors, except Aishwarya Rai, who stars in the new Hollywood venture, The Pink Panther 2.

Among male Bollywood actors, Aamir is ranked highest at 540th in the global list, followed by Shah Rukh (735th), Salman (753rd), Irrfan Khan (825th) and Hrithik Roshan (1059th).

The global list, topped by Hollywood actor Will Smith, is based on the bankability of actors around the world, voted by members of the global entertainment industry, Forbes said. The rankings are based on scores given to more than 1,400 working actors globally by the industry people on a scale of zero-to-ten, in terms of their bankability to ensure the financial success of film projects.

Smith is the only actor to get a ten-on-ten score and is followed by as many as four Hollywood stars — Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie — at the second position.

These are followed by Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson in the top ten. As per the ranking criteria, Smith is the only actor to get an “ultimate” score from across the world.

An ‘ultimate’ ranking means a score value of 10.0, while those scoring 7.50 or more are classified as ‘strong’. Besides, a score of 5.00 is termed as ‘average’, a score value of 2.50 is ‘low’ and actors scoring zero means that they do not have any influence at all.

The inaugural issue of ‘Forbes Star Currency’ survey, on which the list is based, was conducted between September 3-November 16, 2008. Erdos & Morgan, a New York-based independent research firm that advised Forbes on the survey and also handled the tabulation and ranking of the results.