The biggest single paycheck for appearance on Indian television is Rs 12 crore paid to the host of a show on Colors TV.
Gone are the days when TV stars were paid peanuts in comparison with their film counterparts. Not too long ago, the top TV actors could barely charge in a few thousands per episode while filmstars were already raking in crores for a movie. The arrival of film personalities, game shows, and reality TV changed all that as eyeballs grew and money came into TV.
The highest-paid celebrities on TV
So it is not surprising that the highest-paid TV personalities are largely celebrities who host some show or the other, be it Kapil Sharma for The Kapil Sharma Show, Kangana Ranaut for Lock Upp, Amitabh Bachchan for Kaun Banega Crorepati, or Karan Johar for Koffee With Karan. As per multiple reports, all these cine icons charge around or in excess of Rs 1 crore per episode for their respective shows. This means that their season earnings can rival some of the top film stars from their films.
The biggest paycheck in Indian television
But these earnings are dwarfed in front of what superstar Salman Khan makes for his hosting duties in the popular reality show Bigg Boss. Last year, multiple reports claimed that Salman Khan was making a whopping Rs 1000 crore for the whole season of Bigg Boss 16. While the actor himself made fun of the number in interviews, he never commented seriously on it. Later, reports in Siasat and Tellychakkar claimed that the number had been slightly exaggerated. For the new season, Salman is reportedly charging Rs 25 crore per week i.e. Rs 12.50 crore per episode. That makes the actor the highest-paid Indian celebrity on television.
India’s highest-paid TV actors
It is probably unfair to compare the earnings of a Salman Khan for Bigg Boss with what actors earn for fiction shows on television as the two genres are wildly different. Rupali Ganguly sits at the top currently. As per a Times of India report, the Anupamaa star charges Rs 3 lakh per episode for the show. Among the other high-earners, who earn more than Rs 1.5 lakh per episode are Hina Khan, Ronit Roy, and Ram Kapoor.
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