Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is the richest Indian celebrity, according to the 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, which he has topped for the third consecutive year. Shah Rukh Khan has fallen out of the top 10 list.
The 2018 Forbes India Celebrity 100 List rankings are based on estimates of entertainment-related earnings of celebrities. The period under consideration is October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018.
The actor’s earnings are pegged at Rs 253.25 crore. Salman, 52, cemented his place in the top spot thanks to the commercial success of his movies “Tiger Zinda Hai” and “Race 3”. His earnings were backed by endorsements of several consumer-facing brands, and constitute 8.06 percent of the total earnings — Rs 3,140.25 crore — of the top 100 celebrities for the year, read a statement from Forbes.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli jumped one spot to the second rank, with total earnings of Rs 228.09 crore, a sharp increase of 116.53 percent from the previous year. Actor Akshay Kumar completed the top three, with Rs 185 crore in earnings in the period under consideration for the list.
With no movie releases in 2017, Shah Rukh Khan, who was at the second spot on the 2017 Forbes India Celebrity list, fell out of the top 10. His earnings were down 33 percent this year, at Rs 56 crore from endorsements, placing him at rank 13 on the list.
Newly-wed actress Deepika Padukone broke into the top five on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list — the first woman celebrity to find place in the top five — with earnings of Rs 112.8 crore, placing her firmly at rank 4, thanks to the commercial success of “Padmaavat”, and her brand endorsements.
As per Forbes list, Shah Rukh fell to 13th spot in the list, down from No 2 spot he occupied in 2017.