Global appeal puts Deepika Padukone ahead of Bollywood veterans in comprehensive IMDb report on 25 Years of Indian Cinema

MUMBAI, India, 30 September, 2025: IMDb (www.imdb.com), the world’s most popular and authoritative source for information on movies, TV shows, and celebrities, today released a report, titled 25 Years of Indian Cinema (2000-2025), featuring a comprehensive analysis of the Indian film industry’s evolution over the past quarter century. This analysis is based on IMDb data from over 250 million monthly users worldwide.

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The report examines the top five most popular Indian movies released each year between January 1, 2000, and August 31, 2025. These 130 movies collectively account for more than 9.1 million IMDb user ratings, an average of over 70,000 per movie, providing a unique, longitudinal view of global audience interest across languages, formats, and release models.

The report highlights that out of the 130 movies (top five from each year between 2000 and 2025) analysed, 10 feature Deepika Padukone, the fourth-highest overall and a density of hits that few stars of her era have matched. Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rani Mukerji follow with six movies. Padukone also ranks ahead of veterans like Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Salman Khan, and contemporaries like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, and Anushka Sharma.

The report notes that a cycle of fewer strong roles, inconsistent commercial outcomes, and a perception that women cannot anchor box-office success has accelerated how the women in the film industry are leveraging their stardom. Rather than waiting for industry structures to shift, they are building diversified careers spanning global franchises, entrepreneurial ventures, and international projects.

Deepika Padukone commented, “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, have also empowered me to make the choices and decisions that I have, hopefully forever altering the path those after me will tread. IMDb’s Report on 25 Years of Indian Cinema further validates and strengthens my belief that honesty, authenticity and resilience matter, and that by being true to your core beliefs with consistency, change is possible.”

Notably, Padukone was also the No. 1 star in the IMDb list of Most Viewed Indian Stars of the Last Decade, which was released in June 2024.

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