There is no doubt that a film’s business entirely depends on a male star in Telugu. In rare cases (Rajamouli and Trivikram), a director’s name also adds equal weight. Rarely does a heroine impact a film’s business. The distributors still see them as ‘embellishments’, not as the driving force for a business.
Anushka and Samantha have achieved superstardom and have successfully delivered hits solely on their names but the actresses are still not getting big money. While the highest-paid male star gets nearly 75 crores, a top actress gets less than Rs 3 crore. Such pay parity exists.
Prabhas takes home a remuneration of Rs 75 crore given his pan-India appeal. Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu get about Rs 50 crore each. NTR, Ram Charan, and Allu Arjun are also some of the highest-paid stars in India, with each of them getting more than Rs 30 crore. These are the top stars of Telugu cinema. Then who are the highest-paid actresses?
Well, Pooja Hegde is the current reigning queen. She is being paid Rs 2.50 crore. Recently, she has increased another Rs 25 lakhs. Rashmika, Anushka, and Samantha are the only three other Telugu actresses who command Rs 2 Crore plus paycheck.
Other actresses get from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.50 Crore depending on their current status and craze. At the present, only four actresses – Pooja Hegde, Rashmika, Anushka, and Samantha – are getting more than Rs 2 crore per film.
