Bollywood stars might all be millionaires now but that always wasn’t the case, especially if you weren’t born into the industry. We tried to find out the very first salaries of some of the biggest stars in our country and let’s just say, you will be as surprised as we were.
1. Akshay Kumar
The Indo-Canadian actor might be raking in crores from all his movies and elaichi ads these days, but before fame had a brush with him, the big man worked as a chef in Bangkok and earned Rs 1,500.
2. Shah Rukh Khan
Shah Rukh Khan is the biggest star in this country and to be honest, he is amongst one of the most famous people on the planet with his hundreds of films, and a production house, not to forget an IPL cricket team. But according to reports, his first salary was merely Rs 50, which he made while working as an usher at a Pankaj Udhas concert.
3. Amitabh Bachchan
Before becoming the angry young man of Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan was working at a shipping firm in Kolkata and getting paid Rs 500 for his labour.
4. Priyanka Chopra
Before the Miss World title and the Bollywood movies and American shows happened to her, Priyanka Chopra got paid Rs 5,000 for her first assignment.
5. Deepika Padukone
Easily one of the biggest names and one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood, Deepika Padukone had once revealed in an interview that she was paid Rs 2,000 as her first salary.
6. Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik was paid Rs 100 as his first salary to perform a dance alongside Jeetendra in Aasha. And now he’s one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema.
7. Aamir Khan
Khan was actually paid Rs 11,000 only, for his first film.
I was paid 11,000 rupees for my first film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. I was paid 1,000 rupees per month. And, I think it took approximately one year to complete the film.
8. Manoj Bajpayee
Manoj Bajpayee hasn’t had the smoothest road to success in Bollywood. He used to assist Barry John in directing plays which got him a salary of Rs. 1200.
9. Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah started his career at the age of 16 and he got his first paycheck for Rs 7.50 for standing behind Rajendra Kumar.
10. Dharmendra
The legendary actor has a very diverse filmography and is one of the most successful actors in Hindi cinema but when he started his career, he was only given Rs 500 for his debut movie.
Wait, wait. This doesn’t mean you accept that first job offer for whatever they pay you. Ask for what you deserve!