When streaming began in India, the shows were smaller in scale, largely made up of micro-episodes streaming for free on YouTube. As OTT platforms arrived, original content got bigger in scale with larger budgets and bigger stars. Saif Ali Khan starred in Sacred Games for Netflix, and Vivek Oberoi appeared in Inside Edge for Prime Video. Naturally, these actors charged a sizable fee. But as bigger names entered the OTT space, the stars' fees began touching astronomical amounts, with the highest-paid of them all charging over ₹100 crore for one season.
India's highest-paid OTT star
In 2021, Ajay Devgn signed on to star in the Indian adaptation of the hit British show, Luther. Taking over the mantle from Idris Elba, Ajay starred in Rudra: Edge of Darkness, as a cop with a dark side. Bollywood Hungama reported that Ajay charged a whopping ₹125 crore for the seven episode season, which meant that his per episode fees came out to around ₹18 crore, the highest-ever in Indian entertainment history.
Just how big this payday was can be gauged by the fact that the top stars were not charging this much for films at that point. Shah Rukh Khan had reportedly charged between ₹90 and ₹100 crore for his films Raees and Zero. Salman Khan charged a similar amount for Bharat, as per reports. Ajay Devgn's higher fees reflected a greater runtime as the show's seven episodes were looked at as two films. According to Bollywood Hungama, the deal also included 'some cross-promotional activities for the Star Network like promo shoots, social media posts, appearances on reality shows'.
Other big OTT stars
{{/usCountry}}Just how big this payday was can be gauged by the fact that the top stars were not charging this much for films at that point. Shah Rukh Khan had reportedly charged between ₹90 and ₹100 crore for his films Raees and Zero. Salman Khan charged a similar amount for Bharat, as per reports. Ajay Devgn's higher fees reflected a greater runtime as the show's seven episodes were looked at as two films. According to Bollywood Hungama, the deal also included 'some cross-promotional activities for the Star Network like promo shoots, social media posts, appearances on reality shows'.
Other big OTT stars
{{/usCountry}}Given that no actor of Ajay Devgn's stature has appeared in a fiction show on Indian streaming, it isn't surprising that he tops the list of India's highest-paid OTT stars. As per reports, Saif Ali Khan is the next name on the list, having charged ₹15-20 crore for Sacred Games season 2. Varun Dhawan also reportedly earned between ₹12-15 crore for Citadel: Honey Bunny. GQ reported that actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu charged somewhere between ₹5-10 crore for their big shows.
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