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Updated: Dec 07, 2016 15:51 IST

It was going to happen sooner or later but we didn’t expect the news to come out already. Kapil Sharma is now the biggest TV star in the country after inking a new deal with Sony Entertainment Television for 2017.

According to a report in DNA, his paycheck for The Kapil Sharma Show has been bumped up to Rs 110 crore: The comedian will be paid Rs 60-80 lakh per episode, which will put him in the list of highest earning stars even in Bollywood.

Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal and Stand up comedian Kapil Sharma during the promotion of film Kahani-2 on the sets of The Kapil Sharma Show in Mumbai. ( IANS )

Sony’s deal with Kapil proved highly profitable for the channel when he came on board after leaving Colors’ Comedy Nights With Kapil. His show is a big crowd puller on the weekends for the channel and his star power also helps bring in an array of big names from Bollywood, including Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh and more, to the show.

Compared to the earnings of international TV stars, Kapil’s kitty looks impressive: Rs 100 crore translates to $14.7 million. The highest paid international TV actor, according to Forbes magazine, is Jim Parsons of Big Bang Theory who took home $29 million in 2016. However, Kapil Sharma will earn more than Grey’s Anatomy’s Patrick Dempsey whose earnings were $12 million.

Kapil will also earn more than what Priyanka Chopra took home last year: $11 million last year from Quantico.

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