it’s raining brand endorsements for film stars from the South. And for good reason. After the “pan-India” a term that is ubiquitous now successes of their films and OTT shows, actors from Allu Arjun (of Pushpa fame) to Samantha Ruth Prabhu (of The Family Man and Oo Antava fame) are being courted aggressively by advertisers.
Traditional FMCG brands like Frooti, Coca-Cola, and Kurkure to new-age internet firms such as Myntra, Mamaearth, and Zomato are making a beeline for South Indian film actors amidst the dwindling box office appeal of their Bollywood counterparts. Industry estimates suggest that Allu Arjun, the highest-paid actor in Telugu cinema, charges anywhere between Rs 2 crore to Rs 7.5 crore per endorsement deal the upper limit is comparable or what top Bollywood actors, such as Ranveer Singh, earn per campaign.
“There’s no one definite figure. These actors are humans, they don’t have a rate card,” Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing & Talent Solutions, tells Business Today. “What they charge depends on the category the endorsement falls under, how many days they are giving, and other factors like territory, category blocks etc,” he explains. Porwal goes on to share that Allu Arjun always fetched a “huge premium” over his Bollywood peers. And that is because “South stars usually don’t sell themselves cheap” since they know they can influence their audience in other ways (like politics, etc.) “Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth would rarely or never do ads,” he says.
