Pushpa Star Allu Arjun hikes his fees

South Indian actors are rapidly catching up to Bollywood’s A-listers in terms of pay.

To be sure, the Salman-Shah Rukh-Akshay team has a long way to go before they earn the estimated 120-140 crore rupees ($1.2bn to $1.4bn) salary. However, they’re making progress.

After Pushpa’s record-breaking success, according to a source in the industry, Allu Arjun, who was already one of the highest-paid actors in Telugu cinema, has received a three-fold increase in his salary, claiming that he is now a pan-India superstar.

And it’s possible he’s right. To see how his next film does outside of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, we’ll have to wait and see.

Telugu Sukumar, the veteran director of Pushpa, has also raised his fees.

Almost four times as much as he got for Pushpa’s sequel, Telugu Sukumar, he’s demanding and getting.

Nevertheless, the film’s leading lady Rashmika Mandanna has been advised by her team to raise her salary after Pushpa, who was not aware of these financial developments.

Rashmika should have earned the right to a pay raise without asking, just like the lead actor and director of Pushpa.

It proves that male and female stars in India are paid equally.