Exclusive Report - Highest Paid Tamil Actors Salary in 2015

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With talks about abolishing Minimum Guarantee (MG) and pressure to reduce the production costs, actors are facing tremendous pressure to drop their salaries. A number of recent big budget movies barely made profits and as a result, actors' salaries are coming under scrutiny. Here is the ranking and 2015 salary report of Tamil actors.

1. Rajinikanth - Rs. 40 Crores  ( Rajinikanth Page )

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Rajinikanth briefly touched 50 Crores for Lingaa before he gave back 10 Crores to distributors. Rajini has consistently occupied this top rank for 25 years now. In the last 10 years, Rajini's pan-India reach has been propelled by Shankar. This has been largely undone by a series of poor decisions made by Superstar's own family members.

2. Kamal Haasan - Rs. 30 Crores  ( Kamal Page )

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Kamal bounced back through Vishwaroopam from the brink of bankruptcy. For upcoming Papanasam and Uttama Villain, Kamal took home Rs.30 Crores. With 3 movies lined up for successive release in 2015, Kamal's market looks upbeat.

3. Ajith Kumar - Rs. 25 Crores  (Ajith Page)

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Ajith steadfast in maintaining his salary at Rs.25 Crores. Among Tamil actors, the salary to production cost ratio is the highest for Ajith. Roughly 60% of the overall project costs go towards Ajith's remuneration which has prevented makers to produce rich and lavishly mounted movies with Ajith in the lead. In the past, this has caused Ajith losing out on a number of coveted projects. 

4. Vijay - Rs. 20 Crores  (Vijay Page)

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Vijay shows flexibility in adjusting his salary depending on the director and project.  For Kaththi, Vijay dropped his salary to accommodate Murugadoss' salary and production budget. However in Puli, Vijay reversed by significantly increasing his salary as the project involved low crew remuneration.

5. Suriya - Rs. 20 Crores  (Suriya Page)

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Suriya scaled to Rs. 25 Crores at his peak and dropped to Rs.20 Crores. The drop came mostly because of his luke-warm Telugu market. In order to preserve his market position, Suriya is now acting in his home production for Venkat Prabhu's 'Masss'.

 

6. Vikram - Rs. 12 Crores  ( Vikram Page )

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A true directors' actor, Vikram's career has flat-lined during the last 10 years. Vikram had a number of big projects that went way beyond planned schedule and his filmography boasting only 2 profitable ventures during the last decade. The appreciation for Vikram in "Ai" did not result in monetary gains.

 

7. Dhanush - Rs. 10 Crores  ( Dhanush Page )

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With convincing back-to-back hit movies in Tamil and markets opening in Hindi and Telugu, Dhanush is the new entrant to the 10 Crore club. After VIP and Anegan, Dhanush has completed the shoot for Mari and has moved on to his untitled home production (VIP-2) for which he is slated to receive Rs.10 Crores.

 

8. Sivakarthikeyan - Rs. 7 Crores  ( Sivakarthikeyan Page )

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Sivakarthikeyan has seen meteoric rise during the last couple of years. Sivakarthikeyan's fan base among family, women, and kids have ensured solid openings. Both 'Maan Karate' and 'Kaaki Sattai' may have received mixed openings, but the collections have only gotten bigger justifying Sivakarthikeyan's pay. This talented star is causing sleepless nights for a number of leading Tamil actors.

 

9. Karthi - Rs.6 Crores ( Karthi Page )

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Every single one of Karthi's last 7 movies has been for his home production, Studio Green. There is no clarity of what is the real salary whenever stars act in their home production. It is what the production unit decides to write in the books. After acting in a number of sleazy movies, Karthi's career has turned around with success of 'Madras'.

 

10. Vishal - Rs. 5 Crores   ( Vishal Page )

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Another hero who follows similar strategy as Karthi is Vishal. Vishal has been masking his market rates through acting only in his home production recently. This approach has paid off well for Vishal with his recent movies breaking even, despite poor release timing and clashes with top actors.

 

11. Silambarasan - Rs. 4 Crores  ( Silambarasan Page )

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Simbu/STR's presence is choppy ever since his release of VTV, which released more than 5 years ago. With a long list of shelved and delayed projects, 2015 is expected to be a turnaound year with a robust line up of Vaalu, Idhu Namma Aalu and Gautham Menon's movie. 

 

12. Arya - Rs. 3 Crores

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Arya is the only actor who has no qualms about working on multi-starrers and cameo/guest appearance. His casual approach has been a double-edged for Arya. Arya's comedy caper "Yatchan" with Vishnuvardhan could give him the much needed break.

 

13. Jayam Ravi - Rs. 3 Crores

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With Aascar's Bhoologam stuck in the cans, Jayam Ravi's 'Romeo Juliet' looks fresh. Jayam Ravi and director Jayam Raja signed a combo-deal earning a combined salary of Rs.5 Crores for "Thani Oruvan" With Thani Oruvan shooting past the budget, Jayam Ravi's camp is placing their bets on 'Romeo Juliet'.

 

14. Jiiva - Rs. 2.5 Crores

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Jiiva got a severe blow in Ravi K Chandran's disastrous Yaan. Jiiva decision to not sign-up any movies until the release of "Yaan" back-fired. Jiiva cannot afford to miss his target as he gears up for Deekay of "Yaamiruka Bayamey" fame.

 

15. Siddharth - Rs. 2.5 Crores 

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Siddharth's eye for quality movies came to the fore in 2014. The movies include Karthik Subbaraj's 'Jigarthanda', Vasantha Balan's 'Kaaviya Thalaivan' and Lucia remake 'Enakkul Oruvan' have brought him back to Tamil cinema. It is a wait and watch to see if Siddharth will focus on Tamil, Telugu or Hindi industry as he signs his next set of movies.

 

16. Vijay Sethupathy - Rs. 2 Crores

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The "Superstar of small movies" has been half-hearted in his transition to mainstream. Vijay Sethupathy continues to do experimental small movies along with medium budget commercial movies. A number of poor choices (Rummy, Vanmham) quickly eroded his niche space.

 

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