Is Sridevi as popular as Rajnikanth?

We all know that South sensation Rajnikanth is a global icon and is immensely popular across the globe, especially Japan. No Indian actor has been able to match his popularity in that country until now. Reports in Bollywood Hungama suggest that our own very Sridevi seems to have touched the benchmark set by Rajni sir.

During a preview and festival screening of English Vinglish, Sridevi has apparently become extremely popular with the Japanese. The theme of an Indian (Asian) woman struggling with the English language in her everyday life has apparently stuck a chord with the Japanese audiences. They are able to relate to the film as they face the same problem. Reports suggest that there are many Japanese women who want to meet the actress before the film gets a release in December.

English Vinglish was recently screened in Tokyo's Aichi Women's Film Festival. And now the film gets an all-Japan commercial release. Director Gauri Shinde's husband R Balki is humbled by the overwhelming appreciation the film has got. In an interview to Bollywood Hungama, he said the distributors in Japan think this is the first time that the Japanese will connect to an Indian film in such a huge way after Rajnikanth's films.