Who was more popular between Madhuri and Sridevi? - Page 2

Madhuri was bigger,

I can never choose between both❤️❤️

They were the biggest female superstars of their time

It is impossible for someone to become another Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit.

Originally posted by: diasingh2

Being born in 1992, I also did not get the first hand experience of Sridevi's stardom BUT I did witness a bit of Madhuri mania from 1997 to 1999, as I do retain some blurry memories from this period.

Now based on what I've heard from my parents, family and elderly generation AND based on my personal research & opinion too ---> Sridevi was the bigger star, especially considering the time-period she was active.

Sridevi had this unique ability to appeal to every demographic be it young men, young women, kids or elderly... basically everyone was in awe of her magnificent screen presence. and she slowly acquired this capability to effortlessly steal the limelight from her male co-stars.

Sri also had a wider reach because she worked in South Indian films too and was equally popular in that landscape. Not to mention, she would go on to inspire many 90s actresses who were young during this time-period (Kajol, Urmila etc etc). There's a reason why she is called the "first female superstar" of Indian Cinema.

But unfortunately, Sridevi is mostly remembered as an "80s heroine", which was arguably the worst decade of Indian cinema. In addition to working in some seriously bad films, Sridevi had to compte with Jaya Prada, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Dimple, Amrita Singh and many others right from the begining of her career.

Which is where Madhuri got lucky! She rose to prominence in the 90s when BW started to change.

First of all, Madhuri relied heavily on her sex-appeal and dance in the beginning of her career, which Sridevi (who was deemed her rival) and others clearly lacked. 80s actresses like Jay Prada, Meenakshi etc gradually stopped working actively so Madhuri got to work opposite various actors like Dutt, Shroff, Sunny, Anil, Rishi etc. AND she simultaneously got to work with newcomers like SRK, Aamir, Salman etc. Whereas Sridevi was deemed "too old" to work with newcomers.

Madhuri got even luckier as she was not pitted against even newer batch of 90s actresses like Raveena, Urmila, Kajol, Karisma etc because she was "too senior" for them. Her only true contemporary in the 90s was Juhi who anyways stayed comfortable in her "bubbly" image. Only one young actress who could've given tough competition to both Sri and Madhuri in terms of stardom at that time was Divya Bharti, but she unfortunately died in 93 & her career was cut short.

Once Madhuri started doing performance-oriented roles like Anjaam/Prem Granth and once Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! happened, there was no looking back for her...whereas Sridevi's stardom started to fade by then.

With Bollywood going international and so many young directors/filmmakers coming in.. everything sort of worked in Madhuri's favor and she ended up becoming a superstar by the dawn of millennium in her own right, which is great as well. She was certainly destined to become one.

lol sridevi was widely known for her sex appeal also but changed her image post 90s, madhuri relied mostly on her item songs because thats all people like her for which is a shame as i always thought she was very talented.

Don't take this forum's opinions seriously. I mean only in this forum you will see people undermining madhuri's achievements. When in reality she is one of the biggest female superstars of bollywood. Madhuri is one of the most immensely popular yesteryear stars on SM as well as the favorite of almost every BW actor/actress. She was the only actress to dethrone Sridevi and became one of the biggest and highest paid stars in the 90s and the last biggest female superstar of bollywood.

Sridevi was more popular bcoz she made it big in South and North. I don't think people from South know Madhuri

Originally posted by: MargaritaLover

Don't take this forum's opinions seriously. I mean only in this forum you will see people undermining madhuri's achievements. When in reality she is one of the biggest female superstars of bollywood. Madhuri is one of the most immensely popular yesteryear stars on SM as well as the favorite of almost every BW actor/actress. She was the only actress to dethrone Sridevi and became one of the biggest and highest paid stars in the 90s and the last biggest female superstar of bollywood.

*One of the* being the key phrase.

*I* did live through both the 80s and 90s. Sridevi was called the first female superstar. Movies were written around her. Audience flocked to the theatres to see her, and not the hero. She wasn't a sex symbol alone beyond her first few movies in Bollywood.

Because Sridevi was around in Indian cinema as a whole since the 70s, she was considered too old by the late 80s/early 90s. Madhuri was considered next gen despite being only 4 years younger than Sridevi.

And no, Madhuri's popularity was nowhere close to Sridevi. Every type of movie goer loved Sridevi - from kids to horny old men. Madhuri was more the male fantasy.

Then there is the pan India aspect. North, South, East, West... everyone knew Sridevi. The 90s being somewhat pre internet, only Bollywood aficionados knew Madhuri south of the Vindhyas.

No one is underplaying Madhuri's achievements. She, too, was a female superstar. She, too, put bums in seats. But her appeal was not only different from Sridevi's, it didn't have the same reach. That is perhaps one of the reasons HAHK was thought to be a game-changer for her. For once, the movie didn't rely on her sex appeal to sell. But it also turned out to be one of her last hits.

Madhuri is my favorite

Was never into Sridevi

Madhuri. Everyone liked Sri Devi in my surrounding but when asked to choose a favourite they mostly choose Madhuri and sometimes Meenakshi or Juhi or others. I don't know the reason for this since my favourites are mostly from previous generation like Rekha and co.

It is like if both their films are releasing on the same day, most people prefer Madhuri's first and maybe Sri Devi's later or on television. That is why I watched more Madhuri films in theatre.

The very fact that there r topics made on them and discussions happen on them going on for pages, show how popular both still are n to sustain that sort of popularity is incredible, especially in these times when people have such short term memory and shelf life of popularity is also limited.

So don't want to get into who's more popular, but they r surely the most popular amongst almost all bollywood actors, especially the female ones.

Sridevi of course. In her peak was paid as much as the biggest Male star in bollywood and big Stars like sunny deol and Rajinikanth were playing supporting roles in her movies.