After ‘The Greatest of All Time’, is Vijay the Highest-Paid Asian Actor?

Vijay’s The Greatest of All Time was released on September 5, and is on its way to becoming the third highest-grossing Indian film of the year, after Kalki 2898 AD and Stree 2. A week before its release, the film’s producer Archana Kalpathi made headlines when she confirmed in an interview that the superstar had charged ₹200 crore, exclusive of the goods and services tax. Adding that the film’s total budget was ₹400 crore, she said, “A star’s salary is proportional to the box-office revenue they generate. Our production house doesn’t factor in the money that comes from OTT, satellite, and other language rights. We believe a film should recover the costs and more during its theatrical run.”

This has made Vijay the highest-paid actor in Tamil cinema. But it didn’t take too long for the record to be broken with the announcement of his next film, tentatively titled Thalapathy 69. A day after this announcement, X (formerly Twitter) was abuzz with reports that suggest that his new fee is a shocking ₹275 crore ($32 million), exclusive of GST. This means that his fee is more than what Robert Downey Jr. was paid for Avengers: Endgame (2019), which was at the time of its release, the highest-grossing film ever. As for his fans, the fee seems fully plausible to them, given that it’s reportedly the star’s last film before he enters politics.  

But is this fee justified? Does it make him the highest-paid Asian actor today? An industry insider reveals that the claims of his salary is “unfounded for now”, adding that “in the interview, Kalpathi admits that GOAT was made at a cost of ₹400 crore, and she does not deny it when the interviewer states that Vijay’s fee was ₹200 crore. She does imply it and adds that his market has grown by a huge margin since she last worked with him.” 

The source goes on to say that it is presently not feasible for a star to charge that high a fee. “If a superstar charges ₹200 crore and you add another ₹200 crore for production, the overall cost is ₹400 crore. This means that the film has to gross nearly ₹1,200 crore theatrically to break even. At the moment, that is not possible unless the film organically develops into a nationwide blockbuster, which GOAT hasn’t managed to do. As I see it, it is great for the star’s image and fanbase for the news of his fee to be talked about, but it needn’t be the truth.”