Ajay Devgn may be known for his intense screen presence and mass appeal, but his paycheck has been making headlines just as much. From commanding a record-breaking Rs 35 crore for an 8-minute cameo in RRR to becoming India’s highest-paid OTT star with Rudra, the actor has consistently reshaped the industry’s pay scale. As conversations around star fees heat up in the age of big-budget spectacles and streaming giants, Ajay’s calculated choices and blockbuster success post-pandemic make him a fascinating case study in the economics of modern stardom.In 2017, following the massive success of Baahubali 2, director SS Rajamouli announced his next ambitious project with Jr NTR and Ram Charan. Titled RRR, the film’s cast expanded over time, with Ajay Devgn joining in early 2019 for a brief but pivotal cameo, alongside Alia Bhatt and Shriya Saran. Though Ajay appeared on screen for just 8 minutes, he was paid a staggering Rs 35 crore—making it the most expensive cameo in Indian cinema. At Rs 4.35 crore per minute, it set a new record for the highest per-minute fee charged by any Indian actor at the time.To put that into perspective, if Shah Rukh Khan were paid at the same Rs 4.35 crore-per-minute rate for Jawan—in which he appears for around 70 minutes—his fee would have ballooned to Rs 300 crore, surpassing the film’s actual budget. By that metric, Rajinikanth (Jailer), Salman Khan (Tiger 3), Prabhas (Kalki 2898 AD), and Allu Arjun (Pushpa 2) would each have to earn between ₹250–300 crore—far more than their reported fees. Ajay Devgn’s brief role in RRR thus made him, if only by this calculation, the highest-paid actor in India.Ajay Devgn eventually cemented his place at the top of the pay scale when he became the highest-paid OTT star in the country. In 2021, he signed on for Rudra: The Edge of Darkness for a whopping Rs 125 crore, marking a new benchmark for digital content deals in India.Post-pandemic, Ajay Devgn has enjoyed a strong box office run with hits like Drishyam 2, Raid 2, and Singham Again. Known for his flexible approach to remuneration, the actor reportedly tailors his fee based on the project’s scale—charging around Rs 20 crore for smaller-budget films like Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha and Raid 2, while pushing it beyond Rs 40 crore for big-ticket ventures like Singham Again.
