The Most Popular Bollywood Actresses of 2009

Now that 2009 is over, I thought I would post the most popular Bollywood actresses in 2009.
Of course this list isn't about the best actresses (thought they may well be), but they are the most popular because of internet searches and from my own blog, Women of Bollywood.
A few things about Bollywood that you may not know if it's new to you...
The name Bollywood comes from Bombay (the old name for Mumbai) and Hollywood mixed together.
Many people (including myself) use Bollywood as a catch-all phrase when talking about the cinema of India.
Actually there are several different areas of cinema like Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil among others.
Bollywood surpasses Hollywood in the number of movies made every year.
Bollywood is not only popular in Indian, but in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Somalia, Russia and Eastern Europe, and Pacific Islands such as New Guinea.
So now let's get on with the list of the most popular Bollywood actresses in 2009 starting with....

Okay, who didn't guess that Katrina Kaif would be number one?
She starred in four Bollywood movies last year and two of them went on to become two of the highest-grossing Bollywood films in India, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (with Ranbir Kapoor) and De Dana Dan (with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty).
FHM and Maxim voted Katrina India's sexiest woman and Mattel has said their Bollywood Barbie doll will be modeled after her.
Next up for Katrina....four movies for 2010 including Rajneeti, a political thriller with Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai.

The lovely Kareena Kapoor appeared in six films in 2009, and one of them, 3 Idiots, went on to become the highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time and the highest grossing Indian film overseas of all time.
In 2009 she was nominated for the International Indian Film Academy Award for Star of the Decade - Female and two awards at the Stardust Awards.
In Filmfare Magazine's 2009 Power List, she was the only woman.
Kareena has five movies scheduled for release in 2010, including Milenge Milenge with Shahid Kapoor (no relation though they did date) Satish Shah, Aarti Chhabria, and Delnaaz Paul.

Priyanka Chopra had three movies in 2009, Billu (guest appearance), the critically acclaimed Kaminey and What's Your Raashee? that really didn't do too well.
In 2010, Priyanka will be starring in the computer-animated film, Alibaba Aur 41 Chor as Marjina, along with two more films, Son Of Seetadevi and Kismat Talkies .

Asin starred in the Bollywood musical London Dreams in 2009.
The film wasn't a major hit, getting mixed reviews and doing average box office.
She also appeared in Dashaavtar.
Next up for Asin is Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, with Abhishek Bachchan (the husband of Aishwarya Rai), along with The 19th Step and Aise Ko Taisa.

Although Tabu came in at number five.
I couldn't find any 2009 films for her, although she did appear on the cover of the January 2009 issue of Vogue India.
But, 2010 looks to be a very busy year with seven films coming out and Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai slated for 2011.

Deepika Padukone had a busy year in 2009, appearing in five movies.
One of them, Chandni Chowk To China was a flop, but managed to garner Deepika a Asian Film Awards nomination for best actress.
Later in the year though, Love Aaj Kal proved to be a hit, becoming one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.
She has five movies slated for 2010 releases.

Love her or hate her, Mallika Sherawat seemed to be everywhere in 2009.
I'm really surprised she didn't rank higher.
She's been in the US working on Hisss, she was made a honorary Los Angeles resident, she has a very popular Twitter account and her US work visa was recommended by Jackie Chan!
After Hisss is released in 2010, her next big project is Fauj Mein Mauj, about the first woman to join the infantry in India.

In 2009, Preity Zinta had Videsh - Heaven on Earth and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna (special appearance) released.
2010 will see the release of Har Pal (with Shiney Ahuja, Isha Koppikar and Dharmendra).

Bipasha Basu was pretty busy in 2009, with five films released, including the Bengali film Shob Charitro Kalponik.
Shob Charitro Kalponik was selected for the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.
In 2010, she has Lamhaa and Chaimera coming out and she has three movies already set for 2011 releases.

Although Madhuri Dixit isn't really active in film right now (there is a rumor about her playing Indira Gandhi in a bio-pic, but that has been alternately confirmed and denied).
She hasn't made a movie since 2007, but she is still popular enough to come in at number ten on this list.
Madhuri is considered by many to be a legend in Bollywood.
She's won the Filmfare Best Actress Award four times, the Star Screen Award Best Actress three times and won and been nominated for various other awards.

Although these beautiful ladies didn't make it into the top ten, they were close enough to be mentioned....

Ameesha Patel
Amrita Rao
Ayesha Takia
Riya Sen
Vidya Balan

In 2009, five films broke the top thirty on the list of Box Office India's list of highest-grossing Bollywood films.
Out of them, Kareena Kapoor appeared in the highest grossing film (3 Idiots), Deepika Padukone appeared in the twelfth highest (Love Aaj Kal), Katrina Kaif appeared in the 14th highest (Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani) and the 30th highest (De Dana Dan) and Ayesha Takia appeared in the eighteenth highest (Wanted).