Post-Covid Bollywood Box Office Shake-Up: Rashmika Mandanna Reigns, Kareena Kapoor Out, Katrina Kaif Slips to No. 9

Bollywood’s throne has been overturned. The once-untouchable queens—Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra—have all been dethroned. Four years after the pandemic, a southern sensation who barely registered on the Hindi radar has stormed the box office, leading a new generation of women who’ve rewritten the industry’s power map entirely.

₹2,070.56 crore — that’s the staggering worldwide box office Rashmika Mandanna has amassed post-Covid, across just five films, each a bona fide blockbuster. The number crowns her as Bollywood’s highest-grossing female star in the pandemic era. Contrast that with Katrina Kaif, who once ruled the pre-Covid charts at #1. Today, she sits at #9 with ₹806.29 crore, her career visibly slowing as the industry’s power balance shifts.

Before Covid, Bollywood’s female box office was a tightly guarded circle. Katrina Kaif ruled at the summit, Kareena Kapoor held firm at #2, and Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, and Priyanka Chopra rounded out the elite five. Sonakshi Sinha, Sonam Kapoor, and Jacqueline Fernandez filled out the rest of a familiar roster. But the pandemic reset the hierarchy. Today, only three names remain in the top 10 — Deepika (#2), Shraddha Kapoor (#5), and Katrina (#9). The other seven, including two of the defining stars of the 2010s, have been swept aside by a new wave of talent reshaping the industry’s female power rankings.

• Apr 2, 2026
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