Virat Kohli, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan top Forbes India's 2019 Celebrity 100 list
Mumbai: Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebrities of India, Forbes India has announced.
The magazine has published its list of Celebrity 100 for the year 2019 which has been topped by Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli with the earning of Rs 252.72 crore.
The rankings are based on estimates of earnings through professions and endorsements of celebrities and estimates of their fame for the October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
Akshay is highest earning star from the country with Rs 293.25 crore, registering a rise of 58.51 percent from the previous year, but is placed at the 2nd spot, followed by Salman with the earning of Rs 229.25 crore.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Indian cricketer MS Dhoni are listed at 4th and 5th spots, with earnings of Rs 239.25 crore and Rs 135.93 crore, respectively.
They are followed closely by Shah Rukh Khan, who makes a comeback to the list, and Ranveer Singh, with the respective hauls of Rs 124.38 crores and Rs. 118.2 crores.
Despite all the talk about pay parity and inclusivity, the top-10 list has only two female stars and their earnings significantly lower than their male counterparts.
Alia Bhatt features at 8th with Rs 59.21 crore and Deepika Padukone at 10th with Rs 48 crore.
Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is placed 9th on the list with earning of Rs 76.96 crores. Forbes India noted that in the top 100 list, there was an improved representation from the South Indian film industry.
"There are 13 celebrities from the South this year (down from 15 in 2018) but their contribution to the cumulative earnings of the top 100 has increased to 12.57 percent from 11.26 percent in the previous year," it said.
"The inevitability of such lists being dominated by men, which itself tells a tale of the lack of pay parity across genders in every local film industry and in every sport.
"In cricket, a whopping Rs 6.5 crore separates top men players from the women when it comes to the central contract. But when it comes to performance, there is no gap," Brian Carvalho, Editor, Forbes India, in a statement.
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'Don't trust anybody before marriage': SC advises caution in pre-marital physical relationship
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said a boy and a girl before marriage are "total strangers" and they should be cautious while indulging in pre-marital physical relationships.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage, questioned the woman why she travelled all the way to Dubai where they indulged in physical relationship.
"It's consensual. We may be old-fashioned but a boy and girl before marriage are total strangers. They should be circumspect in indulging in physical relationships before marriage," the bench observed.
"Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship, we fail to understand how they can be indulging in physical relationship before marriage. Maybe we are old- fashioned but you must be very careful, nobody should believe anybody before marriage," Justice Nagarathna said.
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Counsel for the woman said they met on a matrimonial website in 2022 and he allegedly established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai.
Justice Nagarathna questioned the woman about what was the need for her to travel to Dubai and observed that it appears to be a case of consensual relationship.
"She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it. We will send them to mediation. These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is consensual relationship," she said.
Justice Nagarathna asked the counsel for the man to pay some compensation to her and be done with it.
The bench also asked the woman’s counsel to explore the possibility of settlement and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday to see the views of both the parties. The woman has claimed in her complaint that on his insistence, she travelled to Dubai where he allegedly established physical relations with her on false pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted.
The woman said that later she learnt that he had married a second woman in January, 2024 in Punjab.
The Delhi High Court and the trial court had dismissed the bail application of the man.
The high court rejected bail, saying the allegations prima facie indicate that the promise of marriage was false from inception, particularly as the petitioner was already married and had married again on January 19, 2024.
Aggrieved by the high court's order, the man approached the top court for bail in the case.
