First Indian actress to charge ₹1 crore out-earned Shah Rukh, Salman, quit films at 33; not Kajol, Madhuri Dixit, Rekha

This female superstar beat Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan to earn ₹1 crore per film and then quit films just a few years later.

The 1990s was the period of liberalisation of the Indian economy. As the Indian market opened up, a lot of new avenues of earning developed. Actors became bigger stars than they ever were due to increased endorsements and visibility. This led to a substantial increase in their fees as well. Chiranjeevi was the first Indian star to earn over ₹1 crore per film, a feat he achieved with Aapadbandhavudu in 1992. But the first actress to do so was not far behind. And her stardom was so huge that even the Khans could not match her at her peak. (

Once the highest-paid actress in Bollywood, this diva abruptly quit films at 33.

The first actress to charge ₹1 crore

Sridevi, often considered one of India's first pan-India stars, was the first female actor to charge ₹1 crore per film. The actor reportedly charged the amount for the 1993 release Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, one of the most expensive Indian films made at that time. The ₹1 crore mark had only recently been breached by Chiranjeevi. And apart from him, only Sridevi charged this amount. Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan joined the club in the mid-90s. But interestingly, till her first retirement from films in 1997, Sridevi was not just the highest-paid actress in Bollywood, but charged more than her male co-stars.

At her peak, Sridevi charged even more than Shah Rukh Khan, her co-star in Army.

The three Khans - Shah Rukh, Salman, and Aamir - were the top stars of the industry, alongside Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt from 1992-97. Yet, they charged somewhere between ₹50-75 lakh back then. It wasn't until the late 90s - by when Sridevi had quit films - that the Khans breached the ₹1 crore mark.

A Hindustan Times story from 1991 about Sridevi's rapid rise to the top.

When Sridevi quit films at her peak

Sridevi was the top star in not just Hindi cinema but Tamil and Telugu films as well by the mid-90s. Alongside Madhuri Dixit and Jaya Prada, she was one of the few female stars who could headline films, as she did in Gumraah, Army, and Laadla. Yet, in 1996, she shocked the industry when she announced she would quit films. The reason was that the actor was pregnant with her first child. Her 1997 release - Judaai - was her last film for almost 15 years. She was just 33 at the time.

Sridevi hinted at a comeback as early as 1999 (this piece was published in Feb '99) but it only happened in 2012.

Sridevi made a brief comeback on television with the show Malini Iyer in 2004-05, but her full-fledged big-screen comeback took place in 2012 with English Vinglish. She then acted in Puli (2015) and Mom (2017) before her untimely death in 2018 at the age of 54.