Bollywood's Top 20: Superstars of Indian Cinema

" Bollywood's Top 20 : Superstars of Indian Cinema " was a book, edited by bhaichand patel and published by Penguine Books India, on 100 years of Indian Cinema in 2012.

The book contained names like K.L. Saigal, Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Suraiya, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Shammi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor Khan.

This book was supposed to talk about those stars of Bollywood who grew to be superstars, becoming the most prominent, most popular and the biggest ones of their generation, irrespective of their acting talents. But this book failed big time.

Though all the names mentioned have made remarkable mark in the film industry, we cannot include all of them in the top 20 superstars list. Also, there were many other names that deserved to be mentioned in this list, namely Rajendra Kumar and Salman Khan among males, and SRIDEVI, Vyjayanthimala, Sadhana, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz and Rekha among females. The mere mention of Kareena makes this list a joke and takes away all the fun. Kareena in 2012 'could not' be included among top 20 superstars of all time in Bollywood. Also, stars like Waheeda Rehman, Shammi Kapoor, Kajol cannot be called one of the biggest 20 of all times.

Also, another crap about this book is its introduction, where it tries to give excuses for not including Vyjayanthimala, Fearless Nadia, Salman Khan, and including Kareena, was a bizarre mess in itself. Also, in the introduction, they mentioned their criteria of selection, i.e., not their talents but their prominence, popularity and stardom would be taken into account. But they themselves couldn't live upto it.

Another point is in all the columns under each name, they have never mentioned what made these stars 'superstars' and forever rememberable, what is special in them that they made it in the top 20. The writing was very poor.

What is your review of the book ? Do you agree with their selection of stars ? If yes, why ? If no, why ? If no, what would be your list of Bollywood's top 20 Superstars of all time ?

Edited by RoNoSarKar7 - 2 years ago

Kajol, Madhubala  and Kareena Kapoor are the ones i would omit from the list. 

Kajol is an excellent actor but not a top 20 superstar. Madhubala is one of the most beautiful woman in Bollywood but superstar ? No. Let's not talk about Kareena Kapoor. If anyone is going to include Kareena Kapoor then why not Karishma Kapoor ?

Of the names you have mentioned, VyjayantiMala, Sadhana and Mumtaz should be on that list. 

One name missing from that list is that of Mary Ann Evans who was also known as Fearless Nadia, 

Other possible inclusion might be Govinda. 

Never read the book, but looks like they wanted to play the equality card by including 10 actors and 10 actresses into top 20 Superstars but lumped them all together instead of separating them and calling it top 10 male Superstars and top 10 female Superstars.

That's why someone like Kareena manages to be in the list and many male Superstars couldn't make it. Because obviously in a male dominated industry more Superstars would be men than women. If SRK and Aamir are in the list, Dharmendra, Jeetendra and Sunny Deol deserved to be there as well. Salman was probably not included because his superstardom was very recent in 2012. But they still did some recency bias by not including Vyajayanthimala and Fearless Nadia. Kareena even today would not qualify in top 20 Superstars of all time. 

Originally posted by: AwaamKiJaan

Never read the book, but looks like they wanted to play the equality card by including 10 actors and 10 actresses into top 20 Superstars but lumped them all together instead of separating them and calling it top 10 male Superstars and top 10 female Superstars.

That's why someone like Kareena manages to be in the list and many male Superstars couldn't make it. Because obviously in a male dominated industry more Superstars would be men than women. If SRK and Aamir are in the list, Dharmendra, Jeetendra and Sunny Deol deserved to be there as well. Salman was probably not included because his superstardom was very recent in 2012. But they still did some recency bias by not including Vyajayanthimala and Fearless Nadia. Kareena even today would not qualify in top 20 Superstars of all time. 

I doubt if Kareena Kapoor would qualify even to be among the top 10 female superstars. 

Originally posted by: surajhere

I doubt if Kareena Kapoor would qualify even to be among the top 10 female superstars. 

22 years of career with the Most longevity compared to all other actresses  & you are doubting her Superstardom? Thank God this forum doesn’t equals to the real world😆

Originally posted by: BhataktiJawani

22 years of career with the Most longevity compared to all other actresses  & you are doubting her Superstardom? Thank God this forum doesn’t equals to the real world😆

Longevity does not translate to superstardom.  Abhishek Bachcchan and Kareena Kapoor debuted with Refugee. I am not doubting her superstardom, she is not a superstar but a star.  That is my opinion.

Edited by surajhere - 2 years ago

I recall They didn’t include Salman and claimed it’s cause his films aren’t remembered.

Well I never heard of anything KL Saigal started in let alone who he is did but I do Know Salmans films. That criteria is out the window then 😂 

Edited by Maroonporsche - 2 years ago

well Kareena and Kajol being there and Salman not being there makes this list loose its credibility anyways...😆

If I was given the opportunity to publish a book on this subject, I would choose:

Female Actresses: Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai

Male Actresses: Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan

Never heard of the book, but opinions are like a..holes, everyone has one. It looks like the author has a lumpy and full bowel of imagination.  Super-stardom is highly subjective and what I call SUPER has certain criteria that some of the names you mentioned do not meet, yet; for a country of so many people with a film industry so full and so important for all the people of that country a list of only 20 anything is a very limited list that really does not do justice to those mentioned as well as those left out. Paper or the internet hold everything people churn out and you can write a million words, all of them lies or fiction and it gets published and some fools may even quote it as gospel truth but that is the beauty of having choices or the ability to go check and research or even to share on a forum so others can opine too and say they disagree.

I for myself think that there are a lot of very successful people both in front and behind the scenes...a lot...who have made an impact in the world of entertainment and the average joe, never hears about them, so they do not know to call them stars, that is why I NEVER believe or take seriously anything that tries to tell me this or that is the bestest or that person is the  greatest anything in the world ...simply because it does not exist, it is fallacy...inside my head I have my own list and you have yours...and that list can have 50 names or 10...