Fiscal 2010 turned out to be a bad year for the tinsel town with

RELATED ARTICLES After Bollywood, Dolby sets sights on south Indian films Budget may bring more services in tax net IMAX plans 17 India theatres by 2013 Withdraw customs duty, countervailing tax on coal imports Vodafone says India tax victory boosts IPO chances

the earnings of many a Bollywood superstar, including Akshay Kumar, Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, taking a plunge as reflected in their advance tax payments.

According to the data of advance tax paid by these cine stars, Akshay Kumar made a payment of only Rs 18 crore in FY10 as against Rs 31 crore for 2008-09, a fall of about 42 per cent. He, however, is still the highest tax payer.

He is followed by Aamir Khan, who is among the few like Amitabh Bachchan who bucked the trend and saw a rise in their income. Aamir paid an advance tax of Rs 12.7 crore for FY10, a rise of 13 per cent from Rs 11.25 crore in 2008-09.

Going by the tax paid by the Bollywood stars, those who saw their income almost halved during the last fiscal include Akshay Kumar, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Sonu Nigam.

Shahrukh at the third position suffered a fall of about 70 per cent in his earnings. His advance tax payment for the last fiscal stood at Rs 9.5 crore, a drastic fall from Rs 31 crore paid in the previous fiscal.

Similarly, Hrithik paid Rs 7 crore as advance tax as against Rs 14 crore in the previous year, a fall of 50 per cent. And, Salman Khan paid Rs 5.5 crore in the fiscal, down by 61 per cent from Rs 14 crore.

Others who paid less advance tax last fiscal include Saif Ali Khan Rs 4.48 crore (down 48 per cent), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Rs 4.6 crore (down 3 per cent) and Kareena Kapoor Rs 3.65 crore (down 1.35 per cent).

Actors who beat the trend include Amitabh Bachchan, who at 10th position made an advance tax payment of Rs 4 crore (up 220 per cent) Shahid Kapoor (Rs 2.5 crore, up 6.4 per cent), Rani Mukerji (Rs 1.26 crore, up 5 per cent), and among the newcomers Ranbir Kapoor (Rs 4.6 crore, up 155 per cent) and Deepika Padukone (Rs 2.05 crore,

up 173 per cent).

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, too, saw their earnings rise. Tendulkar paid an advance tax of Rs 6.8 crore in FY10, higher than previous year's Rs 6.6 crore, and Dhoni paid Rs 5 crore as against Rs 4.3 crore in FY09.