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Upala KBR (DNA; July 14, 2016)

People are still taking in the news about Hrithik Roshan’s Rs 550 crore deal which takes off next year (it has yet to be signed by the actor), for the satellite rights of his next six films. But do you know how much Salman Khan will be raking in for the next few years from a top television channel for his appearances on it and his next 10 releases? Rs 1,000 crore! And this will include Kabir Khan’s film Tubelight and Rajkumar Santoshi’s next.

Says a trade source, “Today, stars are raking in the moolah by signing multi-crore deals with channels willing to pay the price. While Ajay Devgn had signed a deal of Rs 400 crore for 10 films with the same channel, at the time, Salman had signed the same for Rs 500 crore starting with Bodyguard — so he was getting paid Rs 50 crore per film then. Varun Dhawan recently inked a deal with a channel where he gets paid Rs 300 crore for 10 films of his.”

Adds the source, “But with Salman’s past few releases all being blockbusters — Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, for example — channels are willing to pay him triple the amount to air his films and have his presence grace their shows — be it reality shows or sports-based programmes. He recently re-negotiated his earlier contract with the same channel.”

The source adds that for Sultan, its producer YRF and the channel may have to re-negotiate a higher amount. “In such cases, if the production house wants to be paid more, it can pay off the channel by giving it a certain amount and then selling the movie rights to the highest bidder as a one-off deal.”