Deepika Padukone is the new queen of Bollywood

She’s the most followed Asian woman on Twitter, with a massive following of 20 million people. She is the highest paid female actor in Bollywood, raking in $11 million last year alone, thanks to her Hollywood Film, xXx: Return of Xander Cage and various endorsements.

Now, it seems as though she’s the first female actor in Bollywood to be getting paid more than her male co-stars; We are talking about none other than Deepika Padukone.

All set to appear in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film, Padmavati, Padukone stands to make more than her co-stars Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor according to sources who spoke to The Hindustan Times. This is a big deal because not only is she getting paid more, the male actors in the film are also huge stars. 

“There are a lot of speculations about the pay structure of Padmavati. However, Sanjay Sir was clear that the film belongs to Deepika. Deepika has taken home a whopping Rs. 13 crore, while Ranveer and Shahid share equal digits that read close to Rs. 10 crores respectively,” according to The Hindustan Times.

Bollywood is seeing a shift in narratives as more female centric films are coming to the forefront and proving to be hugely successful, more than what male centric films have been able to achieve so far (with the exception of Aamir Khan’s Dangal). Queen, Neerja, Pink, Lipstick Under My Burkha, Padukone’s Piku were all films led predominantly by women; all films achieved critical and commercial success. Now, Kangana Ranaut and Padukone’s upcoming films, Simran and Padmavati, will further reiterate the need for more female-centric films. 

However, while such narratives are becoming popular slowly, there is still a huge gap between the salaries of female actors as opposed to the male stars. However, it seems that Deepika Padukone is the first female actor to break the ceiling with her earnings from Padmavati.