Despite three back-to- back flops in 83, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Cirkus, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh stepped in and replaced 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 had occupied the top spot for five years, fell to second place with a brand value of $176.9 million, according to the Celebrity Brand Valuation Report 2022: Beyond the Mainstream report released on Tuesday. Akshay Kumar was third in the third position with a brand value of $153.6 million.
Singh, whose last big hit was Gully Boy in 2019, has had a lacklustre run since the Pandemic. 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 2 to 3 crore for a 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, amongst others. He has had nine flops since Laxmiii in 2020 with Bell Bottom, Atrangi Re, Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Cuttputlli, Ram Setu and Selfiee. His only hit during this period was Sooryavanshi Nov 5, 2021, which also had Singh in a special appearance.
The top three celebrities held the top three spots in the 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 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 drop by 10 - 20 per cent due to the dry run of Hindi films in the box office in 2022, save for a film here or there. They try to cover it up by doing more ads across categories than they used to and giving more time to these things, according to Manish Porwal, MD, Alchemist Marketing Talent Solutions, told Business Today earlier in the day.
The ranking shows the rising popularity of south Indian films with films such as RRR, KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa and Kantara in the southern languages giving Hindi films a run for their money recently. South Indian actors Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna made it to Kroll's list of India's 25 most valued celebrities for the first time. In the press note with the report, Aviral Jain, Managing Director, Valuation Advisory Services, Kroll, said that 2022 has been the second successful year for South Indian movies at the box office.
The Indian 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 the 33 per cent of the total came from Hindi versions of Telugu, Tamil Kannada films, according to the Ormax report.