Salman Khan does it again, retains top rank in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list

 Good news for Salman Khan and it is not about his latest offering Tiger Zinda Hai that is hitting the theatres on Friday. This one is about the Forbes India list, ranking celebrities on estimates of entertainment-related earnings of celebrities. The actor has topped the 2017 chart with Rs 232.83 crore revenue earnings.

This is the second time Salman has outdone other celebrities. In 2016, Khan had minted Rs 270.33 crore after his film Sultan saw a successful run at the box office. Another film that contributed to his last year’s earnings was the Sooraj Barjatya-directed Prem Ratan Dhan Payo in late 2015.

Coming in a distant second is Shah Rukh Khan with income of Rs 170.5 crore and SRK too has retained his spot at rank 2. The actor had two offerings this year—Raaes and Jab Harry Met Sejal. Both the films couldn’t stand up to the success of his previous films like Happy New Year and Chennai Express. While Raees’ total collections came up to Rs 128 crore, the latter couldn’t stand a chance at the box office as the film could rake in only Rs 62 crore with a massive budget of Rs 119 crore.

Salman Khan’s total earnings may have come down from



the previous year by about Rs 37 crore but the actor is still ahead of other celebrities. His income constitutes 8.67 percent of the total earnings, which is Rs 2,683 crore of the top 100 celebrities for the year. His last release Tubelight whose budget was Rs 135 crore, could earn only Rs 119 crore. But Khan had many endorsements of several brands to get him back to the top spot.

Now, all eyes are on his latest release, Tiger Zinda Hai, that is not only expected to do a record making business and gross Rs 200 crore or more. Thus, Salman is again the favourite to bag the top slot next year.

Among the top 10 in the Forbes list, there are only three cricketers along with 8 actors. Virat Kohli is in third position with Rs 100.72 crore. According to a Duff & Phelps report, Kohli is the most valuable celebrity brand in the country, with a brand value of USD 144 million registering a growth of 56 per cent from last year.

Holding their previous positions are Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Virat Kohli. However, their cumulative earnings has declined by almost 20 percent, down to Rs 504.05 crore compared to last year’s total of Rs 626.52 crore.