According to industry insiders, Aishwarya Rai is being paid 6 crores for her role in Enthiram, the film that also stars Rajnikanth. This makes her the highest paid Bollywood actor. This is going to be a big film in every way. The budget for the movie is 140 crores, meaning that the distribution deal must come in at around 160 crores, meaning that the Indian box office takings must be at least 40 crores for the movie to be a hit – a massive target all round.
However, if anyone can drag in the punters, Aishwarya can. She’s still probably the only really well-known actress to cross the cultural divide recognisably into western movies, having starred in movies such as Bride & Prejudice, Mistress of Spices, Provoked and The Last Legion. She will soon be seen in The Pink Panther 2. In addition to this, of course, she has a whole string of successful Bollywood productions behind her including Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Raincoat, Umrao Jaan, Dhoom 2, Guru and Jodhaa Akbar.
Former Miss World Aishwarya, with her impish smile and playful eyes, is currently in Brazil filming for Enthiram. It meant she missed out on the big music launch for hubby Abhi’s new movie Drona. “She wanted to be there for Abhishek’s music launch of Drona,” explained mother-in-law Jaya. “The film is very close to the family and Ash did not want to miss it. But with the crew already set shop in Brazil, Ash had to fly out.”
