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Sushmita Sen

Stung by the penniless end of some of Bollywood’s former giants, a new generation of Indian movie stars is turning entrepreneurial to cushion the financial blow of life away from the limelight.

Actors have opened restaurants and launched fashion and hotel chains to invest the earnings from their precarious movie careers.

Not all have been successful. India’s biggest star Amitabh Bachchan’s production house folded with losses of 900 million rupees (C$22 million) in the late 1990s, but a number have emerged successfully.

Bollywood stars showed little acumen for businesses until the 1990s but the opening of India’s economy has encouraged many to put their own money behind their business schemes.

One of the pioneers was Mithun Chakraborty, a leading Bollywood actor of the 1980s who started his own hotel business in south India.

"I made this move when the going was good for me in the film industry. I was one of the top actors then and was doing very well in my career," he said.

"I am not good at business or anything else in life. The only thing I know is acting," actor Saif Ali Khan said.

"But at the time I wondered, ‘what will happen to me after the lights, camera and action go?’."

He said he needed to do something other than acting, so he ventured into the hotel business.

Since Chakraborty, many have followed including actor Bobby Deol, who has opened a chain of restaurants in Mumbai.

Former Miss World and Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen launched her own company with plans to make movies and enter the hotel and health spa industry.

"After films what? This question crosses my mind sometimes and I thought why not start doing something now rather than being late," said Sen.

"One needs to find out alternative earning options besides acting for a better future life."

Some actors cite the cases of former greats of Indian screen, who died penniless and lonely after extravagant spending during their successful years drove them into poverty.

Former stars blame high taxes during their peak earning years for their failure to invest in their future.

"Any actor is at a peak for five to six years and then starts his decline," said 1970s film villain and current bit-part actor Prem Chopra.

"It’s not possible to invest very wisely in that short period of time and there’s a lifestyle to maintain too."

Despite being the world’s largest film industry by volume with some 1,000 films a year, actors earn a fraction of their counterparts in other major movie-making centres.

Apart from the biggest stars who reportedly charge up to 70 million rupees (C$1.7 million) for a film, most Bollywood leads earn less than 10 million rupees (C4247,000), bumping up their earnings from stage shows and endorsements.

While the lavish spending and the parties continue, there is a growing sign of a more level-headed approach to investment in Mumbai, the city where everyone dreams of making money.

Upcoming Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan says she invests wisely for her future - as befits a former banker, and even Bachchan, older and wiser, relaunched his business two years ago.

Actor-turned entrepreneur Sunil Shetty sells sunglasses, in partnership with another actor Sanjay Dutt, and has launched a fashion line inspired by Bollywood (Crossover Bollywood Se) and aims for a turnover of 100 million rupees (C$2.5 million) by next year.

John Abraham

He recently opened a store in Vancouver.

Bipasha Basu, a model-turned-actress and half of one of India’s most-talked-about-couples with film star John Abraham, has started planning for a restaurant.

"Starting a food joint is one of my dreams," said Bipasha. "I cannot remain an actress all my life."

"I know that my acting career is going to end some day. So I am already trying to get an alternative business model ready," Bipasha also said.

But not all actors are business-savvy.

Saif Ali Khan, the current heart-throb of Bollywood, admits his strengths do not lie in business.

"I am not good at business or anything else in life. The only thing I know is acting," he said.