Salman Khan tops Forbes' Richest Indian Celebrity List for 2018; Virat Kohli takes second spot

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has topped Forbes India’s 2018 list of richest Indian celebrities with earnings amounting to Rs 253.25 crore. The actor has taken the top spot for the third time in a row. His earnings can be traced back to his two releases — Race 3 and Tiger Zinda Hai — apart from his television appearances and multiple brand endorsements.

India cricket captain Virat Kohli took the second spot with total earnings of Rs 228.09 crore. Aside from witnessing a steep increase of 116.53 percent in his earnings from the previous year, he also jumped one spot. Actor Akshay Kumar came in third with a total gross of Rs 185 crore for the year.

Deepika Padukone, who gained immense critical and commercial acclaim for her role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2018 film Padmaavat, broke into the top five and snagged the fourth spot with earnings amounting to Rs 112.8 crore. Former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni came in fifth after raking in Rs 101.77 crore over the course of the period considered during the making of the list.

Here’s a detailed look at this year’s top five and new entrants:

Forbes India Richest Indian Celebrity List 2018 by Firstpost on Scribd

A regular on the list, Shah Rukh Khan surprisngly slipped from last year’s second position to rank 17 possibly due to having no releases in the considered time frame. Down by 33 percent, his earnings were goosed at Rs 56 crore by the magazine.

The list also witnessed new entrants from the South Indian film industry, 17 as opposed to 2017’s 13. Nayanthara, often called Tamil cinema’s ‘Lady Superstar’, was the only woman to make it to the list from the South Indian film industry.

The list also saw an interesting mix of debutants, including India’s EDM trailblazer Nucleya, Malayalam actor Mammootty, Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda, Telugu director Kortala Siva, Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu, cricketer Jasprit Bumrah among several others.