One of the leading publicists in Bollywood sent this mail across to me. She wants to start a debate on whether Bollywood stars should be included in the Forbes list. She is very keen to get the opinion of the readers of this blog.

It's a burning issue in the power corridors of Bollywood. With the increasing zeroes in their salaries and advance taxes that they pay, our desi stars definitely don't come cheap. Moreover with international studios showing interest in Bollywood films___ Fox Studio's deal with Shah Rukh Khan & Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan being the latest example___ the Holly/Bolly divide is slowing closing.

Forbes annually publishes its top celebrities list based on earnings and visibility. Top Hollywood earners make more than $100 million dollars annually. But how does its Bollywood brethren fair?

Depends on how you calculate earnings. India's most talented earns a tenth of that - according to the list of top income tax payers. India's top four actors paid $10mn in advance tax in 2009. Industry favorite Akshay Kumar paid $4mn in taxes and Bollywood King Shah Rukh Khan paid $3mn. Third on the list is superstar Hrthik Roshan, who paid $2mn followed by Aamir Khan who paid $1.3mn.

If advance tax receipts are accurate, it means that Akshay earned approximately $12mn last year, Shah Rukh Khan earned $9mn, Hrthik Roshan, $6mn and Aamir Khan, $4mn.

However, advance taxes often understate how much Bollywood stars actually pay as they are only an indication of the total income of a person. Bollywood stars have three major sources of income: (1) movies (2) endorsements (3) TV shows. And endorsements, for many, yield much more income than the movies.

... contd.