Gone are the days when thirty was considered the age for the screen divas to shift their focus from silver screen to their personal lives.
The year gone by saw thirty-plus actresses like Sridevi, Karisma Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Manisha Koirala and Preity Zinta making a successful return on the big screen.
2012 turned out to be a year of the returning divas who broke the myth that post-30 is the wrong age for starring roles in mainstream Bollywood.
Sridevi, 49, returned to the big screen after a gap of 14-years with debutant director Gauri Shinde's "English Vinglish".
As a middle-class Marathi homemaker, who sets out to master English to reclaim her lost respect in the family, Sridevi wowed both critics and the audience. The film was different from over-the-top masala films that made her a superstar in the '80s.
After her blockbuster performance, Sridevi is now looking for meaty roles.
Rani, 34, returned to the big screen after a year's gap with "Aiyaa" and Aamir Khan starrer "Talaash". For "Aiyaa", the actress worked really hard. She lost oodles of weight and learned belly dancing but the film did not do well at the box-office.
Rani got another chance to prove herself by playing Aamir Khan's troubled wife in "Talaash".
After taking a sabbatical of six years, Karisma made a comeback with director Vikram Bhatt's 3D thriller "Dangerous Ishq". Though the film was not successful, it has relaunched the career of 38-year-old mother of two.
