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The 40-plus fear factor

With the nation's best box-office bets, the three Khans, getting into their 40s, how do producers and directors plan to re-invent roles for them? Or is it time for the new superstar? We conduct a quick poll...

Kunal M Shah and Ram Kamal Mukherjee

Priyadarshan
"I've only worked with Salman Khan as far as the Khan brigade is concerned. He is extremely flexible and even at 40 he has the energy of a 20-year-old. As a director, I would not like to cast him as a college student; and I think we have quite a wide range of options for such roles in our industry."

Madhur Bhandarkar
"I would love to work with Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan. It is true that we used to lack roles for 40-plus actors in our industry, but not any more. Look at the kind of roles Amitabh Bachchan has been getting... If you are a mega star and you have box-office potential then directors and writers will write characters keeping your age in mind."

David Dhawan
"Oh! I didn't realise they had turned 40. I am a huge Salman Khan fan, and I think he'll look as evergreen and young as he looks today even when he is 50! As far as Aamir Khan is concerned, he is a very serious actor and known for his 'choosy' attitude. I think he'll only accept roles that will suit him. But recently I saw him in an ad, and he looked really young. SRK has his own fan following, and people will like him no matter what he does – if he plays a 25-year-old Raj or a 60-year-old Veer – they just want to see him on screen. But recently he has also started acting in different kinds of films like Paheli and Swades."

Ravi Chopra
"I think we should not make these Khans run around trees any more. They can play romantic roles, provided they're presented in a different way. In my film Baghbaan, Salman had a song with Mahima and he looked his age. I am working with Amitabh, Hemaji, and Salman once again, and I have written their roles keeping their age in mind. In our industry 40 is not really the retirement age. In fact at this age Aamir, Salman and SRK should experiment with a variety of roles."

Nikhil Advani
All of them look 20, so I see no reason to worry as a filmmaker. There are many stories in which they fit in well as good central characters. They all look fantastic and fit playing any character convincingly. I am not making college love stories so I am not worried; secondly, they can mould themselves very well. At the end of the day, we need not forget that they are great actors and are capable of doing everything.

Ratan Jain
The best part is that the audience knows that they all are around 40. I agree that because of this they can't play younger characters and they have to be part of mature love stories but you also can't forget the fact that they are saleable; in fact, these are the actors whose films sell the most and the audience accepts them readily. Then, there are other actors available to make young love stories, like John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, and Akshaye Khanna, and even younger ones like Shahid Kapoor.

Kunal Kohli
I make films according to my script and do not cast people for their star status. Having said that, the era of the three Khans is far from over. They are 40, and still rock. There have been different phases like the Jackie – Anil phase and before that, the Bachchan phase. Even the next generation, like Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan, is ready to take off.