Hyderabad: IMDb, the world’s most popular and authoritative destination for movie, TV and celebrity content, has released its 25-year retrospective report, celebrating the Indian cinema’s biggest stars as seen through its user activity and page views. The report, “Indian Cinema’s Most Prolific Headliners,” identifies the actors who have topped audience attention across IMDb’s rankings over the past quarter-century.
Not surprisingly, Shah Rukh Khan, widely referred to as the “Badshah of Bollywood”, tops the list by a wide margin. Deepika Padukone, meanwhile, has become the most popular Indian celebrity of the past decade, while Aamir Khan still dominates in terms of global crossover popularity, with his movies topping popularity charts on several continents.
According to the report, 20 of Shah Rukh Khan’s films have featured among the top 130 titles on IMDb over the last 25 years. Between 2000 and 2004, his films held the No. 1 spot every single year. Interestingly, even in non-release years for SRK, his following ensured that he stayed on IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list.
In 2024 alone, Shah Rukh Khan featured in IMDb’s Top 10 weekly. His dominance over the list signals not only his box-office popularity, but also his ongoing reach.
SRK was followed in the rankings by Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan, tied in second position at 11 films each, making the top 130. Deepika Padukone secured third position overall with 10 films, while Ajay Devgn followed with 7. Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, and Rani Mukerji each contributed 6 films to the list, while Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, and Akshay Kumar each featured with 5.
Other stars with strong representation included Rashmika Mandanna, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Rajkummar Rao, Vijay Sethupathi, Shraddha Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Kajol, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Anushka Sharma, and Preity Zinta – all with four films apiece.
IMDb’s separate popularity ranking, released in June 2024, looked at the past ten years (January 2014 to April 2024). This list, based on weekly IMDb rankings, showed a remarkable shift: female actors outpaced their male counterparts in popularity.
Deepika Padukone claimed the top spot in this category, ahead of Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Alia Bhatt. The late Irrfan Khan rounded off the top five.
Reflecting on her achievement, Deepika told IMDb, “When I began my journey, I was often told how a woman must or is expected to navigate her career in order to be successful. However, from the very beginning, I was never afraid to ask questions, ruffle feathers, walk a more difficult path and challenge the status quo in order to reshape the mould we have all been expected to fit into. The faith my family, fans and collaborators have had in me has also empowered me to make the choices and decisions that I have, hopefully forever altering the path those after me will tread.”
From Chennai Express (2013) to Padmaavat (2018) and Pathaan (2023), Deepika has consistently balanced commercial blockbusters with critically acclaimed performances.
While Shah Rukh Khan leads in sheer stardom, the crown for international reach belongs to Aamir Khan. According to IMDb, his 2009 classic 3 Idiots remains the most popular Indian film worldwide, boasting over 468,000 user ratings and an aggregate score of 8.4.
Interestingly, 3 Idiots is the top Indian film in the UK, across much of Europe, and in Australia. Meanwhile, Dangal continues to lead in the UAE and China, while Taare Zameen Par remains the most popular Indian film in Brazil. In the United States, however, SS Rajamouli’s RRR has surpassed all to become the most popular Indian movie of all time.
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