After the coronavirus pandemic the entire film industry has gone for a drastic change and movie goers habits have also changed. In the two and half years or more of disruption of normal life the consumers have had access to not only Hollywood cinema and web series but also world cinema in their palms and homes.

The Tamil film industry has also changed like never before and nowadays it takes a lot for a film to succeed at the box office with even the presence of a top hero not gauranteeing success.

However it has been Superstar Rajinikanth who has drawn audience to theaters for the past 45 years. Even his critically panned films like 'Darbar' and 'Lingaa' were said to be profitable for the producers. No doubt he has remained the highest paid actor in India for long but that changed with the unprecedented success of 'Baahubali' and 'Baahulabli 2'. Now Prabhaas has risen to the top commanding salary that is said to be in excess of rupees hundred and fifty crores.

In Kollywood for the past few years it has been a battle at the top between Rajini, Vijay and Ajith. Now it is said that Vijay has got ahead in the race as he has been paid rupees 120 Crores for 'Varisu' and 130 Crores for his upcoming 'Thalapathy 67'. Unconfirmed reports say that on the other hand Rajini got 118 Crores for 'Annaathe' but due to the film's critical and commercial failure he has now got 80 Crores for 'Jailer'. Ajith Kumar who has given a string of hits such as 'Veeram' to 'Valimai' is breathing down their necks commanding over a hundred crores remuneration.

Meanwhile Kamal Haasan the most respected actor in the sub continent was never in the race commercially as many of his films barring 'Panchathanthiram', 'Dasavatharam' and 'Vishwaroopam' made commercial impact in the new millenium. However the Ulaganayagan has won the race as a dark horse as his comeback movie 'Vikram' is said to have collected rupees two hundred crores locally and five hundred crores totally.

Sources say that Kamal has now fixed his salary as 130 Crores and if 'Indian 2' directed by Shankar does the same or more business than 'Vikram' he will increase it further. So in the current scenario it is Vijay and Kamal who are the highest paid actors in Tamil cinema. But Ajith and Rajini fans swear that this will change once 'AK 61' and 'Jailer' release and the two charismatic stars will attract the highest payments for 'AK 62' and 'Thalaivar 170'