The first five months have been pretty good at the box office though external factors are helping a bit with huge growth of NETT ticket rates as compared to last year due to GST and a film like Padmaavat which was held over from last year. If the box office has been good to the industry so far this year there have been two major changes in the star equation. 

The first was Tiger Shroff becoming a real action star with a box office draw with Baaghi 2 and it can be read here about that. The second is Alia Bhatt becoming the number one heroine with Raazi and taking over from Deepika Padukone.

This can be read in two ways, one is that Deepika Padukone was the number one heroine by default over the last 2 years as there were hardly any releases. The other way is that Alia Bhatt has become number one by default as the only other heroine who has similar popularity is not really there so eventually with the consistent HITS and this huge heroine orientated HIT Raazi  the equation had to change.

It can be argued that Padmaavat was there early this year but no matter how much PR is done by each of the actors to put a claim on the success, the industry is far too clever for that today. Basically Sanjay Leela Bhansali surpassed himself and gave a film which actually held big appeal outside Maharashtra and Gujarat and then there was this external factor of this Karni Sena gang who can actually claim the most credit for the huge success of Padmaavat. They managed to create the sort of hype for a film that no actor, song or trailer in the history of Hindi cinema (maybe Indian cinema) has ever been able to do.

Deepika Padukone become the top heroine with films like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Chennai Express and it has lasted for around five years though last two few years there has not been much outside Bhansali films where the huge budget and canvas helps. Tamasha tanked badly and the Hollywood release XXX - Return Of Xander Cage flopped in India and was a disaster in USA. It may have done well in China but many Hollywood duds do well there and it is irrelevant as far as stardom in Hollywood is concerned because the domestic market is a must. So the Hollywood exercise becomes futile as the film fares badly in North America. Alia Bhatt has been hugely consistent and now culminated with a huge heroine orientated HIT Raazi which turns the tables. 

The huge numbers may still be difficult as the age factor makes it difficult for Alia Bhatt to pair with the Khans and the huge budgets will not be there without them but as the likes of Ranbir Kapoor and Varun Dhawan grow as stars that will allow Alia Bhatt to be paired with them in bigger budget films. But this cant take away that as a sole entity she is the biggest female star today in terms of popularity and with age on her side should continue to reign for some time unless choices are bad and there will be some.

Deepika Padukone went the Aamir Khan way by limiting the releases and coming after years. But there is a huge difference as Aamir Khan experienced a time with multiple releases a year and they failed badly and probably found out this can only be done if he establishes an image which could have been difficult so went to limited exposure in terms of films which has worked well for him since. Deepika Padukone became the top star with multiple films like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Race 2 but then went the other way from what had worked well. Also Aamir Khan can do it as a history says a hero has a prolonged career and less work can help you last longer and was also not in a lofty position at that time from where you can go down like Deepika Padukone. But for a heroine its a more limited career and you cant afford to be out of sight for a couple of years as someone will come and go ahead and this is what has happened here. The top five actresses as of now are as follows and if a challenge for Alia Bhatt comes it will probably come from a newer face as compared to others in the list below.

1. Alia Bhatt

2. Deepika Padukone

3. Katrina Kaif

4. Anushka Sharma

5. Kareena Kapoor