Deepika Padukone 1st Indian on list of highest-paid actresses

Leading actress Deepika Padukone has made her debut among the world’s top 10 highest-paid actresses with the earnings of $10 million in a list alongside Hollywood heavyweights like Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts and Friends star Jennifer Anniston.

Ms Padukone, 30, is the only Indian actress and the sole newcomer in Forbes’ 2016 list of the World’s Highest-Paid Actresses, featuring at the 10th spot.

Forbes said Ms Padukone has “scored box office gold” in Bollywood movies such as Bajirao Mastani and Piku.

While she earns less than her Hollywood counterparts for roles, Ms Padukone “compensates with over a dozen lucrative endorsements”, which “have helped her hedge against a deep pay gap in Bollywood”.

Forbes said the Bengaluru-bred Padukone, who made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with Shahrukh Khan-starrer Om Shanti Om, has “since starred in several films that have crossed the $150 million or 100-crore mark.”

She “has also become something of a style icon” launching her own label for an Indian online shopping site.

Making her Hollywood debut along Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel, she will be seen in 2017 in xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

Noting the gender pay gap in the Indian movie industry, “a discrepancy not uncommon in Hollywood” also, Forbes said though a top Indian male star might earn close to $5 million a movie, leading Indian actresses rarely clear $1 million a film.