Rajesh Khanna with Sridevi over the years: Bollywood's non issue with a 21 year age gap: The Listicle

Sridevi and Rajesh Khanna did four films together and had a 100% success rate. Despite the age-gap between the two - Khanna was 21 years older than her - producers found them a stable box-office duo that delivered hit after hit at the box-office. The reviews were not always on par - but the 1980s in Bollywood was a bizarre decade where there was no metric to gage audience mood and preference. A good film didn't guarantee success and some God-awful movies were major hits. For example, Hukumat was the biggest hit of 1987, and not Mr.India. Go figure. 

Anyhoo, back to the age (and wage) gap between leading men and women in Bollywood. Sridevi often worked with superstars who were her senior by decades, so she had no problems with it - as she has stated in several interviews (Google!). 

When leading men were making anywhere between 20-50 lakh rupees back in the day (with Big B occasionally hitting the 1 crore mark), actresses were paid in the 8-12 lakh bracket. When Sridevi established herself in Bollywood of course, she cracked that glass ceiling with her heels and became the highest paid Indian actress from 1987-1994 (Vijayashanti down south was making bigger numbers - but that's another feature for a later day). 

Rajesh Khanna and Sridevi worked in four films together;

1. Maqsad (1984) - Second biggest hit of 1984
2. Naya Kadam (1984) - Tenth biggest hit of 1984
3. Masterji (1985) - Tenth biggest hit of 1985 
4. Nazarana (1987) - Hit 
5. Main Tera Dushman (1989) - film broke even, Sridevi had an extended cameo and wasn't paired with Kakaji! 

No matter where you stand on the matter, there is no doubt India will never have superstars in the league of either Rajesh Khanna or Sridevi ever again. 

Archive of Rajesh Khanna with Sridevi pics here.

Maqsad: Rajesh Khanna and Sridevi