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Can any of the present actresses reach the kind of popularity that Madhuri and Sridevi did in the 1980's?
The Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit combo dominated the industry for around 2 decades which is a phenomenal achievement in itself. While Sridevi's peak period was during the second half of 80s, Madhuri touched the pinnacle of success in the first half of 90s. Even the likes of Sunny Deol and Rajinikanth played supporting roles in 1989 blockbuster Chaalbaaz' which rode on Sridevi's magnetic charisma alone. Such was the phenomenal stardom of Madhuri Dixit that all the leading distributors renamed the 1995 blockbuster Raja' to Rani', as the movie was heavily panned by critics but still became a huge success due to Madhuri's starpower. Both of them individually starred in some of the classic movies of Indian Cinema like Mr. India', Chandni', Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' and Saajan' to name a few.
The reign of female actors is limited and the shelf life is decreasing as the years are passing by. While a Sridevi or a Madhuri was easily the topmost heroine for more than 10 years, it's slowly getting harder to maintain the top position for even 5 years these days. The story is entirely different as far as the male department goes where Salman, Aamir, Shahrukh, who were the top actors during Sridevi-Madhuri era, are still ruling the roost.
Anupamaa
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