Shah Rukh Khan, SS Rajamouli to Akshay Kumar, 5 Indian film personalities to make it to Variety 500

Among the eight Indian personalities that featured on Variety 500 list, five had connections to the film industry. The list includes names like SS Rajamouli and actors Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's film debut in "Deewana." In the decades since, he has become one of the biggest movie stars in the world, earning numerous accolades and appearing in over 80 Bollywood films. Known as "SRK," the "King of Bollywood," or simply "King Khan," he is also a successful businessman, co-founding production company and VFX house Red Chillies Entertainment and co-owning the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders and the Caribbean Premier League team Trinbago Knight Riders. Khan is also a television presenter and stage-show performer. After a four-year absence from the screen, he will star in three films in 2023, including the highly anticipated "Pathaan" from Yash Raj Films.

SS Rajamouli is a renowned Indian film director known for his grand, big-budget movies that have become some of the most successful in India. Three of his films - "Baahubali: The Beginning," "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion," and "RRR" - have ranked among the highest-grossing films at the Indian box office. Rajamouli's films are designed to appeal to a wide Indian audience, transcending linguistic and cultural barriers.

Akshay Kumar is a highly successful Bollywood actor who has appeared in over 100 films. He is known for his consistent box office success and is one of the highest-paid actors in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his horror-comedy film "Laxmii" premiered on Disney+ Hotstar and performed well. It was followed by "Atrangi Re," a musical romance film also released on the streaming platform. In 2021, Kumar's cop drama "Sooryavanshi" became the highest-grossing Hindi film at the box office. This year, he released five films - "Prithviraj," "Bachchan Pandey," "Raksha Bandhan," "Ram Setu," and "OMG 2." His upcoming series "The End" marks his debut on Amazon Prime Video and represents a new beginning for the actor.

Ekta Kapoor, known as the queen of Indian television, co-founded Balaji Telefilms with her parents in 1994. It has since become the largest TV content producer in South Asia, with popular shows such as "Naagin 6" and "Lock Upp," hosted by Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut. In 2016, Kapoor launched the streaming service ALTBalaji, which now has 35 million subscribers. Initially a subscription-based video-on-demand (SVOD) service.

Former head of Disney India, Siddharth Roy Kapur recently ended his six-year presidency of the Producers Guild of India. Through his own film company, Roy Kapur Films, he released "The Last Film Show," a Gujarati-language drama. The film was India's official selection for the Academy Awards and has been shortlisted for the International Feature category. In addition to its presence on the big screen, Roy Kapur Films was also represented on television this year with the series "Rocket Boys" (on SonyLIV) and "Aranyak" (on Netflix), both of which are set to return for second seasons. In 2023, Roy Kapur will start the year with the release of "Pippa," a war drama directed by Raja Krishna Menon and based on Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta's book "The Burning Chaffees."