Drashti Dhami, Hina Khan, Sakshi Tanwar or Devoleena Bhattacharjee: Who is television's highest paid actress?
Drashti Dhami is definitely one of the top television actresses in the industry, but somehow she is not the highest paid actress on small screen.
Most popular actors on television are paid on per-episode basis. They mostly lock about 25 days in a month to shoot for the show. Now the A-listers definitely get paid a large sum per episode, while the supporting actors get a chunk in total.
In her first show Geet Huyi Sabse Parayi, Drashti Dhami earned about Rs 35,000 per episode. She hiked the fee when she was signed on for Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon. Initially it was somewhere about Rs 60,000 and after Vivian D Sena got a hike, the actress increased the fees to Rs 80,000 – Rs 85,000 thousand per episode.
For Drashti’s new show, Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani the actress has quoted about Rs 1 lakh per episode, which is quite a huge fee for a television actor, you’d think. But the truth is that technically, Drashti is still not one of the highest paid actresses in this industry. Sakshi Tanwar who makes about Rs 1.25 lakh per episode trumps Drashti’s amount. Sakshi is currently working on Code Red on Colors.
Similar to Drashti, Hina Khan of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai pockets about Rs 1 lakh per episode. Apparently, when Hina started out, she would make about Rs 1 lakh per month. This is indeed progress after eight years, no?
Saath Nibhaana Saathiya’s Devoleena Bhattacharjee who makes about Rs 80,000 per episode has been throwing tantrums to increase her remuneration. However, the production has not yet reacted to her pleas as yet. Next in line in Sasural Simar Ka’s Dipika Kakar who makes about Rs 70,000 per episode.
The industry is ideally run by women more than the make actors and hence they’ve always had the upper hand with respect to remuneration.