Salman Khan, now worth Rs 3,000 crore, was once sent out of class over unpaid fees

Salman Khan's wealth is estimated at Rs 3,000 crore in the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2026, which puts him among India's richest actors. Shah Rukh Khan leads the actors with an estimated Rs 10,000 crore, and Amitabh Bachchan comes next at Rs 4,000 crore. Salman's early years looked very different.

On Kajol and Twinkle Khanna's talk show Two Much, Salman said he was often sent out of class for being naughty, but one time it had nothing to do with his behaviour. He was in grade four when his father, Salim Khan, asked the teacher what he had done. The teacher said the fees were late, so the fault was the father's. Salim went to the principal and paid what he could, but two weeks later it happened again and Salman was taken out of the school.

Aamir Khan was also part of the chat and had briefly studied at the same school. He remembered something similar: his parents also paid the fees late, and the names of those students were read out in the school assembly.

Salim Khan had known hard times himself. In the documentary series Angry Young Men, he said that when he came to Mumbai in the 1960s as a struggling actor, he paid Rs 55 a month for half a room in a Marine Drive guesthouse. He moved to screenwriting in the late 1960s, and with Javed Akhtar he wrote Zanjeer, Sholay and Deewaar.

Salman started out as an assistant director on Shashilal K Nair's Falak and made his acting debut in a supporting role in Biwi Ho To Aisi in 1988. Sooraj Barjatya's Maine Pyaar Kiya made him a leading man in 1989, but he has said he got no work for four or five months after it, because Bhagyashree was given much of the credit. Salim then asked producer GP Sippy to announce that he had signed Salman, and offers reportedly started coming in. Salman was paid Rs 31,000 for his debut, later raised to Rs 75,000, and at 14 he had earned Rs 75 as a background dancer at an event at Mumbai's Taj Hotel.

As for new work, Salman is reportedly busy with the pan-India film Monster, directed by Vamshi Paidipally and produced by Dil Raju, with Nayanthara also in the cast. His film Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace is reportedly aiming for a release after Diwali.