When a ‘heroine’ was India's highest-paid actor, out-earned Shah Rukh, Salman Khan, Rajinikanth; but quit films at 33

Just three decades ago, a female star rose to be the highest-paid actor in India, charging more than the Khans and Amitabh Bachchan.

Deepika Padukone's exit from Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Spirit started a conversation about gender pay parity in Indian cinema, among other things. Reports claimed that the actor left after the production refused to pay her ₹20 crore for the film, as she had asked. The male lead, Prabhas, is charging over ₹100 crore. There are conflicting opinions on the gender pay gap in cinema, with some calling it a fair reflection of market value while others labelling it sexist. Yet, there have been times in Bollywood when female stars did rule the roost.

The female star who out-earned the top superstars of the 90s.

When a ‘heroine’ was India's highest-paid actor

In the 90s, Sridevi, often considered one of India's first pan-India stars, became 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. At the time, only Chiranjeevi was charging more for a single film. But Sridevi soon increased her fees, and by the mid-90s, when Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan joined the 1-crore club, Sridevi was charging more than even them.

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 which time Sridevi had quit films, that the Khans breached the ₹1 crore mark.

How Sridevi became India's highest-paid actor

Sridevi's combination of versatility and star power was unlike anything seen before for female stars in Indian cinema. She was the top star in not just Hindi cinema but Tamil and Telugu films as well. Alongside Madhuri Dixit and Jaya Prada, she was one of the few female stars who could headline films, as she did in Chandni, Gumraah, Army, and Laadla. This allowed her to consistently get roles that were meatier than many of her juniors and contemporaries, and charge more than her male co-stars.

Sridevi's retirement from films at 33

Sridevi was at the peak of her stardom in the mid-90s, headlined hits in various languages. So, it did come as a shock when she announced she would quit films in 1996. 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 devoted the next few years to raising her two daughters, Janhvi and Khushi.

The actor 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.