Indian film stars take salary cuts

The earnings of some of Bollywood's biggest stars are reported to have been hit by the recession.

According to The Hindu, many of the film industry's highest paid actors have been forced to take a salary cut in their recent projects.

Mr Jehil Thakkar, executive director of KPMG revealed: "During boom time, most of the studios paid stars astronomical amounts. In the past 12-18 months, the elevated prices of the stars have been rationalised due to the film industry's tightening budgets."

Inflated salaries were apparently seen as out of line with the true market value of many performers.

"Actors who just entered the industry had unrealistic pay packets," said an industry insider.

Leading figures Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are confirmed to have paid less tax in the last financial year. Aamir Khan is reported to be the only actor to remain unaffected by the cuts, after a series of commercially successful global releases.