Top 10 most popular Bollywood actresses internationally - Page 2

Word Count: 1

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

I found these numbers interesting. Below is the list of highest grossing Bollywood movies overseas for each year of the last 30 or so years. All numbers came from Box Office India.

1992 - Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman

1993 - Darr

1994 - Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

1995 - Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

1996 - Khamoshi

1997 - Dil To Pagal Hai

1998 - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

1999 - Taal

2000 - Mohabbatein

2001 - Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

2002 - Devdas

2003 - Kal Ho Naa Ho

2004 - Veer-Zaara

2005 - Salaam Namaste

2006 - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2007 - Om Shanti Om

2008 - Rab Be Bana Di Jodi

2009 - 3 Idiots

2010 - My Name is Khan

2011 - Don 2

2012 - Jab Tak Hai Jaan

2013 - Dhoom 3

2014 - PK

2015 - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

2016 - Dangal

2017 - Tiger Zinda Hai

2018 - Padmaavat

2019 - War

2020 - Tanhaji

2021 - 83

2022 - Ponniyin Selvan Part 1

2023 - Pathaan

Based on that, I tallied up how many actresses frequently had the highest grossing film overseas.

Not counting cameos and special appearances, the top ten list of actresses who had a film that was the highest grossing overseas each year is...

5 - Kajol (DDLJ, KKHH, K3G, My Name is Khan, Tanhaji)

4 - Aishwarya Rai (Taal, Mohabbatein, Devdas, PS Part 1)

4 - Preity Zinta (KHNH, Veer-Zaara, Salaam Namaste, KANK)

4 - Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om, Padmaavat, 83, Pathaan)

3 - Madhuri Dixit (HAHK, Dil To Pagal Hai, Devdas)

3 - Rani Mukerji (KKHH, Veer-Zaara, KANK)

3 - Katrina Kaif (Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Dhoom 3, Tiger Zinda Hai)

3 - Anushka Sharma (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, PK)

2 - Juhi Chawla (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Darr)

2 - Kareena Kapoor (K3G, 3 Idiots)

Yet the one who is the most popular name worldwide is Priyanka Chopra who couldn't find herself a place in this list..I mean this list is authentic but it does not translate to popularity..coz no way on the face of planet earth will a Juhi Chawla be more popular than the KKK

Y'all Shah Rukh and Yrf invented the manmohan singh-era, globalised aspirational-yet--homesick-NRI genre. Kajol and Aish were his leading ladies in most of these films. This tally isn't surprising at all.

But but but I do think Aish and Tabu had/have great global presence in terms of standing and work avenues.

Bride and Prejudice was a very kitsch film despite failing miserably.

Namesake will always remain an iconic diaspora film.

Boxoffice India has their own ranking of top actresses of all time, purely based on box office stats. If you're into that kind of stuff.

Originally posted by: FatalFlaw

Boxoffice India has their own ranking of top actresses of all time, purely based on box office stats. If you're into that kind of stuff.

Yes, I had seen those rankings before and was planning on posting here as well so thanks for the reminder. BOI has a list of the top actresses of all time. It's not that far off from the link I compiled except the rankings are different and they only list 9 instead of 10. However, their rankings omit actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, and Anushka Sharma completely.

https://boxofficeindia.com/hit-down-actoress.php

1) Kareena Kapoor

2) Aishwarya Rai

3) Rani Mukerji

4) Priyanka Chopra

5) Katrina Kaif

6) Preity Zinta

7) Kajol

8) Karisma Kapoor

9) Deepika Padukone

Originally posted by: cougarTown

Yet the one who is the most popular name worldwide is Priyanka Chopra who couldn't find herself a place in this list..I mean this list is authentic but it does not translate to popularity..coz no way on the face of planet earth will a Juhi Chawla be more popular than the KKK

Priyanka only had one film that was the highest grossing of the year overseas which was Don 2. But come to think of it, even looking at Indian box office or overall box office gross totals, I don't think she's ever been in the #1 film of the year.

I have to admit Priyanka's omission from the list shocked me as well since all the major actresses who were ever the top heroine from the 90s-2010s were represented minus Priyanka. I think she has less blockbuster films than the others which hurt her.

Actresses who had only one film ranking as #1 overseas are the following:

Amrita Singh (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman)

Manisha Koirala (Khamoshi)

Karishma Kapoor (Dil To Pagal Hai)

Priyanka Chopra (Don 2)

Vaani Kapoor (War)

Karishma is the one who came closest to making the list because her Raja Hindustani and Hum Saath Saath Hain were both just slightly away from being #1 but both times, Khamoshi and Taal beat those films with a very small margin. So she could have been represented with 3 films on the list.

As for Vaani Kapoor, I don't even know if I would characterize War as her film since she's barely in it before getting killed off. The Ghungroo song is really her only presence so while she's not technically a cameo/guest appearance in the movie, her role functions like one.

More proof that Ranveer has more love internationally than a certain animal.

https://x.com/NishitShawHere/status/1739165080082935901?s=20

I have noticed from all my friends who are SRK fans, including myself, that Ranveer is their preference. So I can't help but think that the same way that SRK especially resonates overseas, whatever this quality is, has an overlap with Ranveer as well.

Originally posted by: RaniPreityAish

Priyanka only had one film that was the highest grossing of the year overseas which was Don 2. But come to think of it, even looking at Indian box office or overall box office gross totals, I don't think she's ever been in the #1 film of the year.

I have to admit Priyanka's omission from the list shocked me as well since all the major actresses who were ever the top heroine from the 90s-2010s were represented minus Priyanka. I think she has less blockbuster films than the others which hurt her.

Actresses who had only one film ranking as #1 overseas are the following:

Amrita Singh (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman)

Manisha Koirala (Khamoshi)

Karishma Kapoor (Dil To Pagal Hai)

Priyanka Chopra (Don 2)

Vaani Kapoor (War)

Karishma is the one who came closest to making the list because her Raja Hindustani and Hum Saath Saath Hain were both just slightly away from being #1 but both times, Khamoshi and Taal beat those films with a very small margin. So she could have been represented with 3 films on the list.

As for Vaani Kapoor, I don't even know if I would characterize War as her film since she's barely in it before getting killed off. The Ghungroo song is really her only presence so while she's not technically a cameo/guest appearance in the movie, her role functions like one.

see PC didn't do much big movies with khams or akki reason known but why krish isn't in the list I'm shocked

Originally posted by: Blueberry94

see PC didn't do much big movies with khams or akki reason known but why krish isn't in the list I'm shocked

Her major films with Salman were all during his waning box office days. She never worked with him again after his career revival with Dabaang. With Shahrukh, she only has the Don movies which is why Don 2 is her only #1 movie of the year overseas. Aamir has never worked with her for some reason. Akshay is more popular in India than overseas so his movies have never been #1 of the year abroad. You'll see in the list I made of which actors have had #1 films overseas, that his name isn't even included.

Krrish was a bigger hit in India than overseas. It's only the #7 highest grossing movie of the year overseas whereas in India, I think it was #2 after Dhoom 2.

In fact, the Priyanka movie that was more successful overseas that year was Don. Krrish was ranked #7 while Don was #3. It was beaten by KANK and Dhoom 2 though.

Fanaa was #4 because both Aamir and especially Kajol are super popular overseas, more than Priyanka was back then. In my experience, Kajol tends to be the favorite BW actress abroad which is largely in part because of the SRK rapport and that's why it was no surprise to me that she has the most #1 movies internationally compared to other BW actresses.

Compare and contrast with domestic numbers.

Each actress who ruled every year is posted below.

If there is more than one actress, the one in bold was #1 overseas and the one in red was #1 domestically. If an actress was the top for both overseas and domestic numbers, her name is in both bold and red.

1992 - Juhi Chawla/Madhuri Dixit

1993 - Juhi Chawla/Madhuri Dixit

1994 - Madhuri Dixit

1995 - Kajol

1996 - Manisha Koirala/Karishma Kapoor

1997 - Madhuri Dixit and Karishma Kapoor/???

1998 - Kajol and Rani Mukerji

1999 - Aishwarya Rai/Karishma Kapoor

2000 - Aishwarya Rai/Ameesha Patel

2001 - Kajol/Ameesha Patel

2002 - Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit

2003 - Preity Zinta

2004 - Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji

2005 - Preity Zinta/Bipasha Basu

2006 - Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta/Aishwarya Rai

2007 - Deepika Padukone

2008 - Anushka Sharma/Asin

2009 - Kareena Kapoor

2010 - Kajol/Sonakshi Sinha

2011 - Priyanka Chopra/Kareena Kapoor

2012 - Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma/Katrina Kaif

2013 - Katrina Kaif

2014 - Anushka Sharma

2015 - ???

2016 - ???

2017 - Katrina Kaif

2018 - Deepika Padukone/???

2019 - ???

2020 - Kajol

2021 - Deepika Padukone/Katrina Kaif

2022 - Aishwarya Rai/???

2023 - Deepika Padukone/Deepika Padukone and Nayanthara

The years with ??? are all years where the top grossing movie of the year did not have a significant female presence.

In 1997, Border was the top grossing movie in India. That film is all male centric.

In 2015, Bajrangi Bhaijaan was the top grossing movie both in India and overseas. Kareena Kapoor only has a very small amount of screentime, basically a cameo, so I do not count this as a film she carried.

In 2016, Dangal was the the top grossing movie both in India and overseas. Newcomers Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh were both the female leads but this film ran on Aamir Khan's stardom.

In 2018, Sanju was the top grossing movie in India. Anushka Sharma and Manisha Koirala had supporting roles but not sizeable enough to say they carried this film.

In 2019, War was the top grossing movie in both India and overseas. Vaani Kapoor was the "main" female character but this was hardly a lead role and she doesn't have much screentime.

In 2022, we have a very weird year. The highest grossing movie overseas and the highest grossing movie in India are both South films not BW films. But with PS 1, we have BW actress Aishwarya in a lead role and the Hindi marketing for the film revolves around her. Similarly, so does the plotline of the movie. The highest grossing movie in India was RRR where we do have BW actress Alia in a role but it's a cameo role with only four scenes and as I've said before, I don't include cameos in these numbers.