Shraddha Kapoor races past PM Modi to become 3rd most followed Indian on Instagram

Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity fading or are Bollywood’s fortunes on the rise once again?

Actor Shraddha Kapoor, whose horror comedy 'Stree 2' is raking in the moolah after its release on August 15, has managed to stream past PM Modi notching up 91.4 million Instagram followers. This puts her slightly ahead of the Indian PM whose massive 91.3 million following on the platform is well-documented.

Third most followed Indian

This surge of popularity on Instagram will now make the 37-year-old Shraddha Kapoor the third most-followed Indian on the social media platform, after no less than cricket star Virat Kohli and actor Priyanka Chopra.

Virat Kohli has 271 million followers, while 91.8 people follow actor Priyanka Chopra. Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt boasts of a following of 85.1 million on the Meta-owned platform and Deepika Padukone has 79.8 million followers.

On X, however, PM Modi is still king.

He is strides ahead of world leaders like US president Joe Biden, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed and Pope Francis), with over 101.2 million followers, while his PMO account on X has over 56 million followers. In comparison, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has just 26.7 million followers, with 27.6 million people following jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on X.

Stree 2's success streak

In 'Stree 2' directed by Amar Kaushik, Kapoor teams up with Rajkummar Rao, to provide some real scares, which is obviously helping to bring in the crowds to the theatres.

The film, a sequel to 2018's 'Stree' has picked up ₹300 crores globally in gross box-office collections. The film outstripped 'Khel Khel Mein' and John Abraham-Sharvari’s 'Vedaa' and is likely not to face any competition until 'Emergency', Kangana Ranaut’s take on former Indian PM Indira Gandhi, arrives on September 6. And, shortly after, Kareena Kapoor's 'The Buckingham Murders' will release in theatres on September 13.

Stree-2's box-office success has piqued social media’s interest in Shraddha Kapoor, who made the industry sit up after she played the role of an aspiring singer Arohi Keshav Shirke in the 2013 romantic musical 'Aashiqui 2'.

Over the years, the perky Shraddha, whose aunt is the talented yesteryear actor Padmini Kolhapure and the daughter of Hindi cinema's villain Shakti Kapoor, has established herself as a leading actress with roles in films like 'Ek Villain' (2014), 'ABCD 2' (2015), 'Baaghi' (2016), 'Stree' (2018), the romantic comedy 'Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar' (2023) to name a few.