India’s highest paid villain charged ₹200 crore for one film, more than even Shah Rukh, Salman, Prabhas, Ranbir Kapoor | Bollywood

It is the hero who sells a film’s tickets. This has often been said about Indian cinema, mostly to justify that large paychecks male leads get for films. Today, the top stars earn over ₹100 crore per film, a sum that used to be the budget of whole films not so long ago. And as heroes’ salaries have increased, so have the fees of other artists as well, but not by as much. However, one subsection of film stars is now challenging the lead stars: the villains. As an increasing number of mainstream heroes turn villains in big-budget Indian films, they are out-earning the protagonists. The highest-paid of them all earned a whopping ₹200 crore for a single film. (Also read: World’s highest-paid actress made $70 million for one film, 2x as much as ‘hero’; it’s not Margot Robbie, Angelina Jolie)

India’s highest-paid villain

Kannada superstar Yash, best known for the KGF film series, has become the highest-paid villain in the history of Indian cinema. The actor is co-producing and starring in Nitesh Tiwary’s take on Ramayana. According to reports, his total fees plus distribution share in the film amounts to ₹200 crore, more than the film’s male lead – Ranbir Kapoor.

Yash plays Ravana in Ramayana, making him the highest-paid antagonist in any Indian film. He took over from Kamal Haasan, who was reportedly paid ₹25-40 crore for his cameo in Kalki 2898 AD.

How Yash beat even top Indian superstars

The ₹200 crore Yash is taking home for Ramayana is no mean feat. The amount is far more than what even the biggest of Bollywood superstars charge per film. With the exception of Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan has earned close to ₹150 crore per film over the last few years. Salman Khan has also taken home a similar amount for his biggest hits, while Aamir Khan has also not touched the ₹200-crore mark since 2017. Prabhas, the reigning superstar in Telugu cinema, also reportedly takes home something around ₹120-150 crore per film. The only three actors in Indian cinema (apart from SRK) who have earned more than ₹200 crore for a single film are South superstars Allu Arjun, Rajinikanth, and Vijay.