A year after being voted 'Superstar Of The Millenium' for an online BBC poll ahead of such luminaries as Laurence Olivier, Marlon Brando and Charlie Chaplin, Hindi cinema actor Amitabh Bachchan, has been ranked at the top of India's most powerful film stars by the Forbes.com web site.

Bachchan whose popularity soared in the Hindi cinema in 1970s today rules over the TV business as the host of the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' The Forbes rankings are based on a proprietary formula that takes into account salary of the stars, number of press clips returned on Lexis-Nexis, and popularity established from searches on Dow Jones Interactive and Google.com. The Forbes web site notes the pre-eminent position of India's film industry with over 800 films released every year and acknowledges "These films are a staple throughout Asia but are relatively unknown in the United States."