Salman Khan’s Massive Payday: How He Became TV’s Highest-Paid Star Through Bigg Boss 18
Salman Khan has been one of the best-kept bankable stars in India. Of late, however, he has emerged as one of the highest-paid faces on television. With Bigg Boss 18 getting underway on 6 October, 2024, there has been much ado with regards to Salman Khan and his host remuneration for this season. Salman Khan’s meteoric rise into becoming the television earner speaks volumes about the deep impact he has made on the show and, by extension, the Indian television industry at large.
Salman Khan’s Bigg Payday for Bigg Boss 18
No one has a secret that Salman Khan’s position as the host of Bigg Boss has greatly propelled the show to extensive success over the last decade. So, it does not really come as a surprise that Bigg Boss 18 is ready to strike the small screens now, which also sheds light on the fact that Salman Khan is extracting an astonishing ₹60 crore per month for hosting the show as per a report by Her Zindagi. This massive amount of money will truly reflect the contribution Salman has toward this show while solidifying his place among the top-tier, highest-paid television personalities worldwide.
The compensation of Salman in Bigg Boss is a combination of a per episode and one-time contract. Sources close to the production reveal that while exact figures are kept under lock and key, his final earnings for the season could run close to ₹250 crore should the show run its full 15 weeks. That would equal almost as much as he would earn from one of his massy blockbusters. The amount of money would be substantial, a testimonial to the way Salman Khan keeps audiences hooked on the show year after year.
Bigg Boss and the New Salman Khan’s Role
Salman Khan has been hosting Bigg Boss for more than 15 years so it is impossible to imagine this reeling hot reality show debate going on without him. Though the series had started off with some different host way back, it was Arshad Warsi who was the first to host it, followed by the Bachchan starrer, Amitabh Bachchan. But, when Salman took the helm everything changed and reached heights beyond imagination.
Salman has been bringing over the years the original flavor of humor, charm, and authoritative presence to the show. He is a disciplinarian, a mentor, and a man about his hut, playing the sutradhar role-that is, the one who ensures the drama flows but still maintains control. And this is where the show has got its mastership lesson, for Salman’s balance is mandatory for showing it off. His funny one-liners and rapport with both contestants and viewers have made him indispensable to Bigg Boss. For this, here’s why Salman Khan is not replaceable on Bigg Boss.
THE REASON SALMAN KHAN IS NOT REPLACEABLE ON BIGG BOSS
There were times when Salman had to take a backseat as the host-and matters went for a toss-due to some legal wrangles or shooting schedules of his films, and the show, surely, took a drastic hit in terms of viewership. And there was an obvious message-to some extent coming directly from the audience-that Salman Khan is, in fact, what makes Bigg Boss work.
It is while the drama and celebrity contestants have their contribution to the show’s success, Salman’s larger-than-life presence is what holds it all together. His star power is quite transcendent of the small screen, and his continued success in films only enhances his influence on television. According to trade insiders, Salman was earning between ₹5 crore and ₹10 crore per film when he began hosting Bigg Boss more than a decade ago. Today, that number has ballooned, and it’s reported the actor is charging as much as ₹150 crore per film. Having Bigg Boss taking up a major part of his calendar year, he is only natural to ask a fee akin to that on television commitments.
How Salman Khan Stacks Up Compared to Other TV Stars
Salman Khan’s salary for Bigg Boss 18 sets the benchmark for himself and no one else in that industry. None, really, because even the closest competitors, like Rupali Ganguly, who is, to date, the highest-paid actress on Indian television for Anupamaa, receives a salary of ₹3 lakh an episode. For example, for the span of a Bigg Boss season, her total earnings would be as good as ₹2 crore-a far cry from what Salman earned: ₹250 crore.
TV star Kapil Sharma also brought in ₹60 crores for a season of The Great Indian Kapil Show. That too is still a long way from what Salman earns. But Amitabh Bachchan, whose fat check to host Kaun Banega Crorepati is unmatched as he shoots five episodes a week compared to Salman’s two, cannot match Salman’s TV mint.
The magnitude of Salman’s earnings says it all about his star power that cannot be compared. Though, TV has never been the big turf where Bollywood stars earn their highest checks, Salman Khan’s bigg boss has changed this reality.
Future of Salman Khan on Bigg Boss
Despite doing so much work in movies, Salman Khan is not going to leave his hosting shows on Bigg Boss. In fact, a recent promo of Bigg Boss 18 humorously showed Salman talking to his “future self” from 15 years ahead, who teased that he would still be hosting Bigg Boss 38. Given the massive viewership numbers and the consistent demand for Salman’s presence on the show, such a scenario may not be too far-fetched.
As Bigg Boss 18 sets off on its adventurous ride, fans eagerly await the drama and controversies and excitement that the show is so infamous for, but one thing is as sure as the sizzling summer: Salman Khan’s role as host remains the drawcard, and it doesn’t matter whether he rakes in a record ‘production money’ of Rs 100 crore to break that bottle by himself. And with every passing season, Salman’s influence on Indian television grows stronger and presents a question of how much more he could earn from the time when he was the host of his 20th, 25th, or 38th season of Bigg Boss.
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