Four ways to reach the top -- which is most sustainable?

IMO there are four schools of thought to reach the top --

1. Play a desi appendage in masala films, dance around trees and overshadow everyone with your screen presence. Sridevi and Madhuri made it from masala films but they did have the spark and good screen presence.

2. Time and again we have seen that only a successful romantic film establishes a heroine like nothing else as the film depends as much on her as on the hero. Top actresses/heroines, besides maybe 1-2 in the recent past at least, have been catapulted into the "big league" by romantic films. Kajol, Preity Zinta are examples of this.

3. Only flowerpot roles in big hits don't help unless you have some other good films side by side...because in flowerpot roles, the actresses are all replaceable. New debuts, and the older ones are out. Actresses should do substantial roles to prove their mettle, along with flowerpot roles, so that she becomes best of both worlds. E.g. - Deepika

4. Fourth school of thought is that actresses should be judged only on how female-centric movies in which they star has performed at the box-office. For e.g. -- Kangana's movies usually don't have well-know male leads, so she carries the film on her own shoulders.

So, what is your criteria for choosing a top star female and who would it be?

Which category most appeals to you?