Despite three back-to-back flops, Ranveer Singh pips Kohli as India’s most valued celebrity

Despite three back-to-back flops in ’83, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Cirkus, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh toppled ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli to become the country’s most valued celebrity of 2022 with a whopping $181.7 million worth brand value, according to a report by corporate investigation and risk consulting firm Kroll. 

Kohli, who occupied the top spot for five years, fell to the second spot with a brand value of $176.9 million, according to the “Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2022: Beyond the Mainstream” report, released on Tuesday. Actor Akshay Kumar remained in third position with a brand value of $153.6 million. 

Singh, whose last big hit was 2019’s Gully Boy, has had a lacklustre run since the pandemic. But he endorses 41 brands such as Ching’s, Bingo, Nivea and Colgate, and reportedly charges between Rs 3.4 crore and Rs 4 crore per ad. 

Kumar, who is known to charge over Rs 2 to 3 crore per day for an ad shoot, endorses at least 30 brands such as Honda, Nirma, Policy Bazaar, Livguard Energy, Harpic, Suthol, Dollar, Tata Motors, PC Jewelers, Revital H, Lever Ayush, and Cardekho among others. He has had nine flops since Laxmii in 2020 with Bell Bottom, Atrangi Re, Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Cuttputlli, Ram Setu and Selfiee. His only hit during this period has been Sooryavanshi (Nov 5, 2021), which also had Singh in a special appearance. 

The same three celebrities held the top three spots in Duff & Phelps’ Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2021 as well. The report, which provides a ranking of India’s most powerful celebrity brands based on brand values derived from their brand endorsement portfolios and relative social media presence, ranked Singh and Kumar in the second and third spots, respectively, after Kohli.  

But experts say Bollywood's most popular stars, including top endorsers such as Singh and Kumar, are seeing their advertising rates cool down by 10-20 per cent amid Hindi films' dry run at the box office in 2022, save for a film here or there. So, they try and cover it up by doing far more ads across categories than they used to and giving more time to these things, Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing & Talent Solutions had told Business Today earlier.  

With films such as RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa, and Kantara in the southern languages giving Hindi films a run for their money recently, the ranking also indicates the rising popularity of south Indian movies and stars. South Indian actors Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna made it to Kroll’s list of India’s top 25 most valued celebrities for the first time. “2022 has been the second successful year for South Indian movies at the box office, resulting in many Tollywood faces being sought after in the advertising and media industry nationally,” said Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll, in the press note with the report.  

The Hindi film industry had a poor showing in 2022, accounting for 33 per cent of the Rs 9,024 crore cumulative box office collection in India during January-October 2022, according to Ormax Media’s ‘The India Box Office Report’. More than a third of that 33 per cent sum came from Hindi-dubbed versions of Telugu, Tamil & Kannada language films, the Ormax report said. 

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Watch: India's most valued celebrities 2022: Ranveer pips Kohli; Allu Arjun, Rashmika among top 25