Shah Rukh earns more from ads than movies

Shah Rukh Khan, the Badshah of Bollywood, is an even bigger king of the advertising world, according to his tax figures.

The superstar has paid an advance tax of Rs 270 million ($6.8 million) on his estimated income during the current financial year of 2007-08, but a major share of it has gone into paying for his income from endorsing a slew of products and other sources.

Sources in the advertising agency for which the superstar has worked reveal that his income from endorsements fetches him Rs.1.5 billion ($38 million) a year, the highest for any Indian advertising "model".

In comparison, though Amitabh Bachchan endorses more products than Khan, earnings from his annual endorsements do not cross Rs 1.2 billion.

Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, two other Bollywood stars who source a good part of their incomes from endorsements, earn a little less than Rs1 billion each from advertising assignments annually. The rest of the Bollywood "models" are all in the Rs.50- million income bracket.

Industry observers believe that apart from the top chair he occupies in Bollywood, Shah Rukh is going to maintain his prominent position in the advertising world as well for some more years as there is no one yet who can rival his charisma.

In the current fiscal, his earnings from this source may go a little above Rs1.5 billion as he has been made brand ambassador of more products - and more are waiting, the sources added.

King Khan's earnings from endorsements stand at a notch much above the emoluments that he gets for starring in movies, which, according to his own admission, never goes beyond Rs50-60 million per assignment.

A big chunk of his income from outside Bollywood in the current fiscal also came from hosting STAR Plus' Kaun Banega Crorepati quiz series for which he received Rs10 million per episode.

Additionally, he also made a quick profit of Rs 400 million across the table by selling the world distribution rights of his home production Om Shanti Om to Eros International for Rs 750 million as against the production cost of Rs 350 million.

The profit that he earned from the deal was apart from the remuneration of Rs 50 million that he gave to himself for leading the cast in the movie.

Barring this, the actual figure of his earnings from starring in movies was only Rs 200 million, as he featured in four movies last year. Considering his current star-price, his income from movies in the current fiscal may not go beyond Rs 300 million, which is way below his average earnings from endorsements.