India, June 6 -- It was in the 90s that Chiranjeevi became the first Indian actor to charge Rs.1 crore for a film. It soon became the benchmark to measure top stars, with the three Khans and Akshay Kumar soon joining the ranks, along with Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. But over time, the Rs.1-crore sum became small, with even supporting actors charging that. Soon, it became Rs.10 crore and eventually Rs.100 crore. In the midst of it all, in 2019, an actor charged a staggering Rs.4.35 crore per minute for a role, reshaping the economics of film casting. (Also read: India's highest-paid actress earns Rs.30 crore per film, has no release in 6 years, yet beat Deepika, Alia Bhatt, Kareena)

In 2017, after the stupendous success of Baahubali 2, SS ...