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This List Of Annual Income Of Bollywood Stars Blows The Lid Off Gender-Based Pay Gap In The Industry

Numbers don't lie.
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Forbes Magazine has unveiled the list of highest-earning Bollywood stars of 2017 and unsurprisingly, only two women have made the cut.

Shah Rukh Khan nailed the top spot, with earnings amounting to nearly $38 million (roughly 243 crore in INR) -- a figure Forbes says is higher than the earnings of top Hollywood talent such as Samuel Jackson and Ryan Gosling.

It's a curious figure as, unlike 2013, when SRK had a blockbuster in Chennai Express, the past few films of the superstar -- Fan, Raees, Dear Zindagi -- haven't exactly set the box-office on fire. So it's likely that a major chunk of his income came from the volley of brands that he endorses.

Coming a close second is Salman Khan, who earned a neat $37 million (INR 237 crore). Although his last release, the Kabir Khan-directed Tubelight failed at the box-office, the superstar is having quite a dream run at the turnstiles with blockbusters such as Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan to his credit.

Oddly, Akshay Kumar (he is extremely prolific, averaging 4 films a year) is third in the list and not, say, Aamir Khan, whose Dangal, a film he co-produced, broke major global records. Akshay earned $35.5 million (227 crore) while Aamir took home a relatively paltry $12.5 million (INR 80 crore), but the figure is set to rise next year, when Dangal's global earnings will be accounted for.

Hrithik Roshan is at the 5th place with a paycheque of about $11.5 million (INR 73.7 crore). This, despite the colossal failure of Mohenjo Daro and the average-performing, Kaabil.

In the 6th place is Deepika Padukone, who made $11 million, despite having acted in a tentpole Hollywood film, xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

Bajirao Mastani co-stars Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra tie at the 7th spot with earnings of about $10 million (INR 64 crore) each. It must be noted that Chopra is at least 7 years senior to Singh, with many more films to her credit, along with an international TV show (Quantico) and a plethora of global brand endorsements. Despite that, she makes the same buck as Singh, who entered the film industry as recently as 2010 and saw a major flop in Befikre last year.

With only 2 women in the list, it is clear that the gender-based pay-disparity in Bollywood is severe and our film industries aren't doing enough to bridge that massive gap. Remember: the difference between what Priyanka makes and what Shah Rukh Khan makes is not just little, it is an astonishing $27 million (or 173 crore INR).

Anushka Sharma, who's had a more successful run at the box-office (and is also a producer) as compared to her peer and frequent co-star, Ranbir Kapoor, isn't even on the list.

Amitabh Bachchan ($9 million) and Ranbir Kapoor ($8.5 million) complete the list. It must be noted that these are pretax figures that have been tracked between the period June 1, 2016 and June 1, 2017.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.