5 Bollywood stars who took pay cuts after box office flops in 2022: Indian actors Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Vijay Deverakonda, Tiger Shroff and John Abraham lost millions, but who took the biggest hit?
- All four of Kumar’s 2022 releases, Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan and Ram Setu tanked; as did Khan’s Forrest Gump remake Laal Singh Chaddha
- Tollywood star Deverakonda’s debut Hindi film Liger failed to rake in much cash, while Shroff’s Heropanti 2 suffered a brutal loss – Abraham also saw films like Ek Villain Returns flop
The post-Covid-19 era hasn’t been kind to Hindi cinema. Barring a few, Bollywood releases just haven’t performed this year.
While actresses and other professionals in the film industry have been expected to take pay cuts during and after the pandemic, a host of male millionaire stars are still getting rate hikes, according to the Hindustan Times.
But with the pay disparity now beginning to affect movie viability, a few male actors have finally agreed to decrease their exorbitant fees to make their films profitable. The measures are yet to help the industry financially, but they seem to show how the spotlight is shifting shifted from stars to quality, original productions.
Here are five Indian stars who’ve slashed their prices in 2022.
1. Akshay Kumar
Bollywood’s Khiladi star has mostly boasted a career of blockbusters, evidenced by his US$240 million net worth (per Celebritys Worth). His post-Covid-19 film Sooryavanshi, fetched a promising US$25 million too, per Livemint – impressive for the pandemic-hit industry.
This year, though, all four of his outings (Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan and Ram Setu) have tanked, with his per-film US$12 million salary (per Koimoi) upping the losses.
The 55-year-old has reportedly reduced his fee to an unknown amount for his upcoming medium-budget films Selfiee and the remake of Tamil hit Soorarai Pottru, added Koimoi.