Not Deepika, Priyanka or Aishwarya, this heroine was most expensive actress, took more money than three Khans, left Bollywood at peak of career, she is…

Deepika Padukone has left director Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film ‘Spirit’. After this, a lot of uproar was seen. The biggest issue was of ‘gender pay’. According to many reports, Deepika left the film because the production refused to give her ₹ 20 crores as per her demand, while the male lead of the film Prabhas, is charging more than Rs 100 crores. Well, the issue of the gender pay gap has been raised many times in cinema. This has been happening since ancient times, not today. But now actresses openly express their views on this.

But in the 90s, there was one heroine who proved to be an exception in this case. She had left even the superstars behind. This name is of Sridevi, who is considered to be one of India’s first pan-India stars. There used to be a competition to cast her in their films. There used to be a lot of issues with dates. In such a situation, she was also the highest-paid star.

Sridevi holds the record of being the first female actor to charge ₹1 crore for a film. She earned this amount for ‘Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja’ released in 1993. It was one of the most expensive Indian films of that time.

The first actress who asked for such a high amount

Sridevi’s fees were not only a burden on actresses but also on actors. At that time, only Chiranjeevi was charging more than her for a film. Then, soon Sridevi increased her fees. By the mid-90s, when Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan joined the Rs 1 crore club, Sridevi was charging more than them. This record is a big thing in itself.

Big stars were helpless in front of Sridevi

The three Khans entered Bollywood during 1992-97. Stars like Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol, and Sanjay Dutt came and slowly started dominating the industry. Even then, they were charging between Rs 50-75 lakhs at that time. It was not until the end of the 90s, when Sridevi retired from films. It was only when Sridevi took a break from films that the three Khans crossed the Rs 1 crore mark. Meaning Sridevi was way ahead of them. When Sridevi took a break, she was just 33 years old.

Sridevi was as beautiful as she was talented. She was a top star not only in Bollywood but also in Tamil and Telugu films. Sridevi was at the peak of her stardom in the mid-90s. But everyone was surprised when she announced a break from films in 1996.

Why did Sridevi retire at 33?

What happened was that Sridevi was pregnant. Janhvi Kapoor was in her womb. In such a situation, she wanted to take a break from her career and take time for her family. The 1997 release ‘Judai’ was her last film for almost 15 years. She was only 33 years old when she retired. Then she remained busy raising her daughters, Khushi and Janhvi, for many years.

Sridevi made a comeback with the TV show ‘Malini Iyer’ in 2004-05. But she made her lead role on the big screen in ‘English Vinglish’ in 2012. Then she was also seen working in ‘Puli’ (2015) and ‘Mom’ (2017). Sridevi died in 2018 at the age of 54.

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