Smriti Irani surpasses Anupamaa’s Rupali Ganguly after confirming being TV’s highest paid actor with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2: 'Not only pay parity, I beat the...'

Smriti Irani’s pay cheque is as huge as her big comeback to television with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2. While the show and the politician-actress are continuously making the headlines, Smriti recently shared is indeed getting a record-breaking pay-check for reprising the iconic role of Tulsi Virani.

As per reports, she is getting a whopping Rs 14 lakh per episode, and if it’s true, she has surpassed her contemporaries, including Rupali Ganguly, who charges Rs 3 lakh per episode for Anupamaa and Hina Khan, who takes Rs 2 lakh per episode, with a huge margin to become TV’s highest-paid actor.

Smriti confirmed that in today’s date she is the highest-paid actor on TV without hesitation. When Smriti was asked about her journey from a struggling actress who landed the role of Tulsi in 2000, which became TV’s top earner, she smiled and said, “Yes, I see the glee on your face.”

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She also said that such remuneration is justified for professionals who work hard and give their best. “You also set that benchmark as a professional to say that if you deliver on numbers and revenue, why not? Because not everybody who’s watching us knows we get to negotiate our contracts as employees. I’m a part of a union, so the first thing I do is actually have my union number registered. We all are part of a larger organisation and flow of work. For one person to stand up and say listen, not only pay parity, I beat the boys and the girls and how much I make that is a lot of hard work,” said Irani.

“Are you truly the star or do you have the professional capacity to make stars around you? I think that I have actually, mercifully, had the capacity of making stars out of others who are with me. If there is a Tulsi, then Amar Upadhyay quintessentially creates his own market. So do you become that pivot, that sounding board, that other actors then can enhance their economic value? That I have managed to do through the project, so my co-stars today can say, ‘Oh, we are a part of that,’” she added.

Sharing that she knows how big the responsibility is this time, and added, “There is a presumption that you have to be damn good at your job if you are a part of that show. And obviously, that means there’s a lot of economic benefit they get.”

“What is extremely satisfying for me is the fact that many of them discuss politics, they want to know how Parliament works. Amar (Upadhyay) is the one that has spoken about it, I spoke about it,” shared Irani.