Top 15 Highest Paid Indian Celebrities 2026: Who Tops the List?

You know how they say “money talks”? Well, in Indian cinema, it ROARS.

Every festival release, trailer drop and overseas rights deal, today, carries a price tag bigger than the film itself. So much so that in 2026, the gap between a superstar’s paycheck and a regular actor’s fee has widened into a canyon. It’s fuelled by pan-India releases, streaming wars, and endorsement empires worth more than entire film budgets.

So who are the highest-paid celebrities in India today, and what separates them from the pack? This list of Indian highest paid celebrities pulls together reported fees, profit-sharing deals, and brand valuations to rank the titans of Bollywood and beyond. From Chennai to Mumbai to Hyderabad, these 15 names dominate box-office and boardroom conversations alike. Whether you’re looking for the highest paid celebrity in Bollywood or the highest paid celebrity in India across regional cinema, our list covers it all, complete with each star’s most recent 2026 project.

Who are the highest-paid Indian celebrities in 2026?

15. Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor currently charges approximately ₹70 to ₹100 crore for a movie. The number is expected to climb sharply once Ramayana: Part 1 releases, considering it is one of the most anticipated Indian films in years.

With Ramayana positioned as a career-defining, multi-part franchise, industry watchers expect Ranbir Kapoor’s fee to enter an entirely new bracket after the release. For now, he stands 15th in this list of Highest Paid actors with a high scope of climbing the ladder soon and at a jet speed.

14. Mahesh Babu

Mahesh Babu is one of the leading superstars of Telugu Cinema. His ₹70 to ₹100 crore fee reflects Telugu cinema’s trust in his star power, even though his release calendar has been considerably slow over the last few years. He is currently filming in Varanasi, tentatively titled SSMB29.

Mahesh Babu doesn’t oversaturate the market, keeping himself firmly among Telugu cinema’s most valuable leading men and the 14th-highest-paid actor in Indian cinema overall.

13. Hrithik Roshan

A star of the early 2000s, Hrithik Roshan is said to charge a fee of ₹ 80 to ₹ 110 crore for a movie, which reflects both his acting pedigree and his expanding ambitions behind the camera. He is currently preparing for Krrish 4 (director and actor) and Jailer 2 (special appearance).

Known for his dance skills, physicality, and box-office consistency in the action genre, Hrithik Roshan is now betting his career on creative control rather than just performance, a gamble that could reshape his standing among Bollywood’s highest paid stars in the years ahead.

12. Ram Charan

Ram Charan is the son of Konidela Chiranjeevi, who is following in his father’s footsteps with thespian prowess that shrieks of a legacy in the making. He is known to charge ₹100 to ₹130 crore per film after RRR’s massive global success.

His 2026 release, Peddi, was a rugged multi-sports action drama and one of Mythri Movie Makers’ most anticipated productions of the year.

In recent years, Ram Charan has increasingly positioned himself as a pan-India star, which justifies his place as the 12th highest-paid Indian celebrity, backed by a fan base that spans well beyond Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

11. Jr. NTR

Jr. NTR’s fee of ₹80 to ₹120 crore surged after RRR became a global phenomenon, followed by Devara: Part 1 in 2024. This has only helped him further cement his mass-hero status in Telugu cinema. He is currently filming Dragon and has God of War & Devara: Part 2 in his pipeline.

Balancing family legacy with genuine global crossover appeal, Jr. NTR has become one of Telugu cinema’s most bankable stars. His fee now makes him claim the 11th chair at the table of India’s top richest and highest paid actors.

10. Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar is one of the fittest and richest actors of the Indian Film Fraternity. Known to have a ₹60 to ₹145 crore fee range reflects both his volume and his brand as Bollywood’s most bankable everyman star.

His 2026 comedy Welcome to the Jungle, has extended his record for the most films crossing ₹100 crores at the Indian box office. He also appeared in Bhooth Bangla earlier this year and will be seen next in Haiwaan, alongside Saif Ali Khan.

That he sits comfortably in the top 10 highly paid actors in India speaks of his success that continues even after almost 3 decades of being a prominent face in the industry.

9. Allu Arjun

Allu Arjun has been a known face in Telugu cinema for a few years now, and, with Pushpa, he has also successfully entered the  mainstream film industry. His fee of ₹100 to ₹125 crore has climbed sharply since Pushpa 2: The Rule became one of the highest-grossing Indian films ever released.  He is now preparing for Raaka and AA23, both of which will be pan-India films.

Allu Arjun has successfully translated regional stardom into a genuine national box-office pull. His rising fee places him firmly at the 9th place among the highest paid Indian celebrities.

8. Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan has been in the industry longer than most others in this list. His ₹100 to ₹150 crore fee range reflects five decades of genre-defying work across Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi cinema.

After his 2025 film Thug Life, he is now working on KHxRK and developing another project tentatively titled KH237.

Rarely chasing box-office spectacle, Kamal Haasan is a veteran who continues to be prominent even after decades of steady work. His exorbitant fee per movie is a testament to his enduring credibility as one of Indian cinema’s most respected actor-filmmakers and the 8th highest paid Indian actors.

7. Salman Khan

The Bhaijaan of the industry, Salman Khan’s per-film fee of ₹100 to ₹150 crore is backed by one of Bollywood’s most loyal fan bases, built over three decades of mass entertainers.

After 2025’s Sikandar, Salman will return to the big screen with Maatrubhumi. He is also currently working on the untitled SVC 63 with director Vamshi Paidipally.

Salman’s brand of larger-than-life heroism continues to command premium pricing from producers even today. It has cemented his place as the 7th highest paid Bollywood celebrity despite a mixed run of hits, superhits, and a few flop movies at the box office in recent years.

6. Ajith Kumar

Ajith Kumar’s fee range of ₹105 to ₹165 crore places him firmly among Tamil cinema’s highest paid celebrities, even though he now releases films sparingly.

His 2025 hit Good Bad Ugly became one of last year’s biggest Tamil grossers. He is now in talks for his next project, tentatively called AK64.  His charm continues to hold the fortress for his fandom real tight as he takes 6th place in the list of highest paid actors in India in 2026.

5. Prabhas

It might have been over a decade since Bahubali came and beguiled everyone, but the charm of Prabhas still continues to rule the heart of his massive fandom. He is said to command ₹100 to ₹200 crore per film.

His 2026 release The Raja Saab kicked off the year, and he is now finishing Fauzi. Beyond that, Prabhas has Spirit and Kalki 2 queued up for a much later release.

Prabhas exemplifies the modern pan-India star: an actor whose fee is justified purely by his ability to open a film across every Indian language market at once. Everyone knows he has the capability of drawing a massive footfall in the cinema, which cements his place as the 5th highest paid Indian actor.

4. Aamir Khan

Aamir Khan releases far fewer films than his peers, and, even then he still commands a fee of ₹100 to ₹250 crore per project.

Last year, his Sitaare Zameen Par came through as one of 2025’s biggest sleeper hits. He also recently did a cameo appearance in Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, and his next major venture is currently an unconfirmed mystery.

Known for near-obsessive attention to script and detail, Aamir Khan’s fee reflects not a bulk quantity but guaranteed quality that keeps him firmly among Bollywood’s top richest celebrities despite a leaner release calendar than most of his contemporaries.

3. Joseph Vijay

Vijay’s journey from Tamil cinema’s biggest star to Chief Minister makes him one of the most unusual entries on this list, yet his per-film fee of ₹130 to ₹275 crore still ranks among the highest paid Indian celebrities.

His farewell film, Jana Nayagan, is set to release in 2026, closing his 33-year, 69-film acting career. His last theatrical release before this was The Greatest of All Time (2024).

Few exits in Indian film history have carried this much cultural and political weight. But even as he makes an exit from the film industry, he has cemented his place in the list as the 3rd highest paid celebrity, which is proof of his success in the Film Industry.

2. Rajinikanth

Popularly known as “Thalaiva”, Rajinikanth is the one actor in this list who is worshipped like a God in Tamil Cinema. At 75, Rajinikanth continues to be Tamil cinema’s highest earner, pulling in ₹125 to ₹280 crore per film.

His 2025 outing Coolie was one of the year’s biggest South Indian releases. He is now completing Jailer 2, which is slated for an October 2026 release.

Decades into his career, Superstar Rajinikanth remains proof that legacy and box-office pull still translate into the fattest fees in Indian cinema. He is the 2nd highest paid celebrity in this list, and that’s the only proof of his superstardom. 

1. Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan tops every highest paid celebrity in Bollywood list for a reason: three years after his last release, his comeback is still the industry’s biggest event. His per-film fee of ₹150 to ₹300 crore reflects a brand that continues to outlast every rival for over three decades now.

After the blockbuster run of Pathaan, Jawan, and Dunki, SRK is set to return to the big screen in December 2026 with King, which marks his first big-screen appearance since 2023.

With Pathaan 2 already in development, Shah Rukh Khan remains the clearest answer to who is the highest paid celebrity in Indian cinema today, commanding fees that few in the world can match.

How do the highest paid celebrities charge their fees?

While most actors on this list have a clear system of taking their fees upfront for each movie, there are 6 names in this list who operate differently.

Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, and, Ranbir Kapoor (since Animal) don’t take money upfront from the producers for the movies. They mostly have backend deals with the production houses, which defines the terms of the money they’d make out of a project. If a film makes money, they charge their fees accordingly, usually by taking a percentage of the profit the film makes. However, if a film does not make money in the box office, these actors put on the garb of producers themselves to waive off their fees for the movie and make up for any losses procured along the way.

We must also highlight, the numbers we have mentioned are only an approximation with a lot of scope for all these actors to negotiate the value per film, given how well a movie performs. 

So, Who Truly Rules India’s Pay Charts in 2026?

When it comes to what each of these actors charges per film, Shah Rukh Khan and Rajinikanth stand as titans, as their fees remain exorbitant and unparalleled. Yet, when it comes to box-office prowess, Aamir Khan’s Dangal and Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 cast long shadows over the annals of Indian cinema, asserting their prominence with equal force.

The landscape of the highest-paid Indian celebrities in 2026 transcends boundaries of industry, language, and geography. Today, it really has become a national, pan-Indian phenomenon. 

With movies like “King,” “Ramayana,”  and “Fauji” poised to shatter box-office records this year, and actors like Ranveer Singh waiting in queue with recent projects like Dhurandhar, the names and figures on this list are destined to see major shuffles in times to come. 

Stay connected with Inside Box Office for the latest updates, as this illustrious list continues to evolve throughout 2026.