When Deepika Padukone took home a fatter pay cheque than popular male co-stars like Big B, Ranveer & Shahid

Deepika Padukone is one star whose versatility knows no bounds. One of the best actors in her generation in Bollywood, Deepika certainly also demands a pay cheque that looks equally good as she makes her films look.

While the debate surrounding pay disparity between actresses and actors in Bollywood is at its peak, Deepika has earned a bigger pay cheque than her very competent co-stars in more than one film.

Having arrived in Bollywood with a blockbuster debut like Om Shanti Om, it didn’t take Deepika a while to climb to the top and be one of the most sought after leading ladies in Bollywood. The actress, in fact, used to earn more than Ranveer Singh when she first started dating him after they worked together in Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ramleela in 2013.

By Amitabh Bachchan ’s own admission, Deepika was paid more than he was for the film Piku in 2015. The Bollywood mega-star said that Deepika was obviously more important than him in the movie and he didn’t have any qualms admitting to it even after winning a National Award for his performance in the movie.

Deepika was again paid more than the two leading men in Sanjay Leela Bhansali ’s Padmaavat , Ranveer Singh in Shahid Kapoor . Playing the titular character of Rani Padmaavati, Deepika was reportedly paid Rs. 13 crores for the 2018 film while Ranveer and Shahid who charge way more today, walked away with Rs. 10 crores each for the project.

The actress did admit during an interview without confirming her fee that she was indeed the highiest paid actor in Padmaavat.

Last seen on screen in Kabir Khan starrer ’ 83 , Deepika who also co-produced the project based on the 1983 World Cup was the second highest paid cast member after Ranveer Singh. She played Romi Dev in the film while Ranveer played the ’83 team captain Kapil Dev. The rest of the cast including actors like Saquib Saleem, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Ammy Virk , and others who essayed the iconic cricketers from the ’83 team were paid way less than Deepika who reportedly took home close to Rs. 14 crores for the movie.

It is also certain that Deepika is also the highest paid cast member of Shakun Batra ’s Gehraiyaan in which she will be seen next. The movie which takes a look at modern romances and heartbreaks has Deepika in the lead along with actors Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday .

The film arrives on Amazon prime Video on 11 February.