Salman, the 50 crore Khan

With Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan taking full control of their box-office successes and turning it into a financial gold mine, how can Salman Khanbe left behind? The actor enjoying his recent success run in Bollywood, with two back to back hits in Dabangg and Ready, has decided to demand a whopping Rs 50 crore for his next project.

Salman who used to charge around Rs 40 crore for his films, has now hiked his fees and is charging Rs 50 crore per film. At present Salman is in a commanding position at the box-office. And his business manager Matrix is ensuring that Salman's market demand translates into big bucks.

Two filmmakers who have recently signed on Salman, alleges that the star has indeed hiked his price. Also, following in the footsteps of his Khan counterparts, the actor is taking more than a keen interest in all his upcoming projects by calling the shots in terms of casting of the film.

A source says, "Salman is not only quoting a fee close to Rs 50 crore, he is also 'recommending' (read: appointing) directors for these films. Like, for the T Series project Salman has put forward the names of two directors and has asked producer Bhushan Kumar to choose from one of them. Furthermore, he insisted on Sonakshi Sinha for Kick and now he's recommending Zarine Khan to his prospective producers."

Filmmaker Bhushan Kumar admits that Salman's price is being re-negotiated and restructured. "When Salmanbhai did Ready the film industry was facing a huge financial crunch. But he agreed to cut down his price from Rs 40 crore to Rs 17 crore.

This was the only way we could have made Ready at that time. Now the market has changed for the entire film industry. So, we are currently re-negotiating with him for our next film," he says.