Rs 35 crore

Producer-directors ranked by worth
1. Aditya Chopra
2. Rakesh Roshan
3. Karan Johar
4. Farhan Akhtar
5. Ashutosh Gowariker
6. Mani Ratnam
7. Vipul Shah
8. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
9. Madhur Bhandarkar

Highest-paid independent directors
Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Rs 35 crore
Anees Bazmi: Rs 15 crore
Abbas-Mustan/Vishal Bhardwaj/David Dhawan: Rs 10 crore
Priyadarshan: Rs 9 crore
Imtiaz Ali (Pre Love Aaj Kal): Rs 8 crore
Siddharth Anand: Rs 7 crore
Kunal Kohli: Rs 7 crore
Anurag Kashyap (post Dev D)/Sajid Khan /Sanjay Gadhvi/Prakash Jha: Rs 5 crore

Directors with commercial promise
Rajkumar Hirani, Farah Khan, Anurag Basu

Actor fees
Rs 50 crore, or close to it, is what Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan are said to be worth if they were to come on the market. But as they work under their own banners, judiciously pick their films in outside banners and do only one-two films a year, they aren't on the market to all producers. Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are and do a fair number of films a year. Akshay's price, despite the figures bandied about, is said to be in the region of Rs 25 crore.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Actress fees
Aishwarya Rai: Rs 4 crore
Kareena Kapoor: Rs 3 crore
Katrina Kaif: Rs 2.5 crore
Priyanka Chopra: Rs 2.5 crore
Deepika Padukone: Rs 1.5 crore

How Yashraj works
There's a price to be paid for those stylishly-mounted films, glossy look and starry cast. Yashraj makes sure all its directors sign the three-film deal: Rs 15 lakh for first film, Rs 20 lakh for second, Rs 25 lakh for third + percentage of the profits of the Mumbai territory.

Directors currently in the YRF fold:
Shimit Amin
Kabir Khan
Anurag Singh
Jugal Hansraj
Parmeet Sethi

In the past: Siddharth Anand was said to have reworked his terms after having landed a hit with Salaam Namaste and Pradeep Sarkar did a production deal with Aditya Chopra for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag where YRF financed the film. Kunal Kohli was paid as per YRF's terms for his three-film deal, but co-produced his fourth, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, which was financed by Yashraj.u00a0

The best paymaster
Dharma: Of the production houses, Dharma Films is said to be the best paymasters, though Karan Johar's production house has just begun expanding its director portfolio. For its three-film deal, it's said to offer first-time directors Rs 50 lakh, then Rs 75 lakh for the second and Rs 1 crore for their third film.u00a0

The curse of the third
Three flops are what a director is allowed before he's off the market, according to insiders. "If the last three films were debacles or if the financiers lost close to Rs 20-25 crore on their last two films, it gets difficult for a director to raise money for his film," points out a source. Directors whose stocks have somewhat fallen are Nagesh Kukunoor, Nikhil Advani, Ram Gopal Varma (despite Phoonk being a hit), Subhash Ghai and J P Dutta.

Rajkumar Santoshi, a fine director, has to now prove himself commercially with the Ranbir Kapoor-Katrina Kaif romcom Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani. Kunal Kohli and Sanjay Gadhvi have to watch their step with their next to stay in the game.