Time up for 30+ heroines?

An adage in Bollywood says 'a hero is only as old as the heroine he wears on his arm'. So, suddenly the under-30 heroine is in great demand. A trade source points out that there are two reasons for this.

One, the top heroes, most of who are in their 40s, prefer to make a fresh screen pair with a younger girl. Two, there are a crop of young heroes — Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Sushant Singh Rajput — all of who need to be paired with young girls, unless of course, they're doing some off-beat stuff, where they can be seen romancing a cougar. In fact, one has heard from casting agents in film corporations that the established heroes have made it clear that they would prefer to work with the younger lot.

Check this out. As of today, Shah Rukh Khan has teamed up with the 27-year-old Deepika Padukone in Chennai Express. Ajay Devgn romanced the 23-year-old Tamannaah in Himmatwala. Akshay Kumar is serenading the 25-year-old Sonakshi Sinha in his Thuppakki remake.

Aamir Khan will be seen with the 25-year-old Anushka Sharma in P.K. Salman Khan has chosen a 25-something Daisy as his romantic lead in Mental. Farhan Akhtar will be seen with the 27-year-old Sonam Kapoor as his love interest in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. And, John Abraham has the 26-year-old Kangana Ranaut as his lover in Shootout At Wadala. There's talk of Esha Gupta romancing an A-lister, but she remains tight-lipped because she's been warned by the filmmaker to stay quiet.

Coming to the younger lot, Ranveer is romancing Deepika in Ram Leela, Arjun has Alia Bhatt as his co-star in 2 States, Sidharth is teaming up with Parineeti Chopra in Hasi Toh Phasi, Shahid has Ileana D'Cruz as his heroine in Phata Poster Nikla Hero, Sushant is also teaming up with Parineeti and Arjun has Sasha Agha in one of his romantic outings.

Says filmmaker Milan Luthria, "We have to remember that this is a business without rules. This is always about finding the glove that fits. A filmmaker should follow only the requirement of the script. I don't think age has anything to do with it. If I'm making a Summer of '42, I'll cast a 40-year-old woman with 20-year-old guy. Yes, there has been a tradition for many years for leading men to be paired with women who are much younger. On screen, men age slower than women. However, I'm not a believer of that. Actresses like Vidya Balan have proved otherwise and they're on top today. It all depends on how interesting the character is and every time we try to brand something, we always fall on our faces. It is a myth and one should do what is right for the story."

Milan has a point. However, those who are casting today and see their films releasing sometime at the end of 2014 or early 2015, are definitely thinking of casting girls who have youth on their side. And filmmaker Vikas Bahl knows this. Says he, "That's always been the case. In most of our stories, the hero and heroine are not married to each other; they marry at the end. So that's the sub-30 age. Whether it's a romantic film or an action film or a comedy... whatever the genre, the sub-30 age is by default."

Vikas admits that the ultimate casting is script-driven. Says he, "I think most of our scripts, right from the time we started making films in India, have had lead players do characters that are sub-30. In many of our films, we don't discuss age. We leave it to the imagination of our audience. How old Akshay, Salman, Kareena, Katrina or Kangana are is open to imagination. We just dress up under-30 whatever character they are playing."

That's why Shah Rukh, who is 47, says he is 27 in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. And, his leading lady Katrina feels the need to be introduced as a 24-year-old. In our movies, age is just a number used to the convenience of the filmmaker.

The exceptions:
Katrina Kaif, who will turn 29 on July 16 this year, is the hottest female star at this point.

Priyanka Chopra, 31, gets to romance Hrithik Roshan in Krrish-3 and even a Ram Charan Teja because the price she was paid for Zanjeer is right.

Kareena Kapoor, 32, has struck pay dirt and bagged a second film with Imran because their last outing Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu did well, and she may romance Emraan Hashmi too.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Increasing-demand-for-under-30-heroines/articleshow/19322828.cms

No way is Katrina only 29 🤪

Originally posted by: MrsMalhotra

Milan has a point. However, those who are casting today and see their films releasing sometime at the end of 2014 or early 2015, are definitely thinking of casting girls who have youth on their side. And filmmaker Vikas Bahl knows this. Says he, "That's always been the case. In most of our stories, the hero and heroine are not married to each other; they marry at the end. So that's the sub-30 age. Whether it's a romantic film or an action film or a comedy... whatever the genre, the sub-30 age is by default."

Vikas admits that the ultimate casting is script-driven. Says he, "I think most of our scripts, right from the time we started making films in India, have had lead players do characters that are sub-30.

Yeah only those under 30 have the right to get married. The others are all fossils who should doob maro in chullu bhar paani

Looks like by 2014 and 2015 we will see a new generation of heroines atleast. Kareena isnt getting any work apart from KJo's PH. Katrina too has been surprisingly low profile. Only PC right now seems to have some decent projects which has got on merit. But who knows what their fate will be?

Fukhri and Aditi Rao hydari debuted in their 30s. BW should change their ways now!

You know I really think we need to give the writers a little more blame for not even imagining/writing characters for the superstars that can be above 30...and acting like being above 30 is the worst crime inflicted on humanity or something. If he's shown above 30, there must be a flashback showing him as a 20 year old because we should all commit suicide once we hit 30 anyways.

Bollywood is so ageist...for BOTH men and women.

Originally posted by: chocolover89

You know I really think we need to give the writers a little more blame for not even imagining/writing characters for the superstars that can be above 30...and acting like being above 30 is the worst crime inflicted on humanity or something. If he's shown above 30, there must be a flashback showing him as a 20 year old because we should all commit suicide once we hit 30 anyways.

Bollywood is so ageist...for BOTH men and women.

Originally posted by: desigal90

THIS!
I've noticed that bollywood's portrayal of romance is restricted to the youth. Their best love stories, for the most part, have centered around a young couple, whether it be DDLJ, or JWM, or KKHH, etc etc.

I remember the film Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (delayed project with Salman, Shahrukh, Madhuri) which tackeled a very interesting subject about the relationship of a married couple in perhaps late 20s early 30s. That was one project that wasnt restricted by age. I wish it had released at a proper time slot, perhaps it might have done better. But I loved that film.

Its time writers step outside the bubble and realize there is no age for romance.

There are so many issues in society. Look around you! Love can happen at any age, it can develop post marriage, a man in 40s can find love and want to settle down, divorce, etc.

But no.

I'm just waiting for bollywood to get over this regressive "one testesterone Infused man beating up 20 men" phase and actually start to work on the stories again.

And you're absolutely right.
Yash Chopra couldnt write a film without portraying Shahrukh as a 25 year old? At most, he plays a man in 30s. What's wrong with showing him being romantic at 45?

I can only think of Cheeni Kum as an "older" love story...or the Akshaye-Dimple story in DCH, and Shirin Farhad with Boman-Farah...I guess Baghban to some extent (but that was more of a parents vs children film)...mostly all other romances are "youthful"...as if it's just not possible for people above 30 to fall in love. 99% of the time, they make the actor and actress both younger than their actual age

Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam had a nice concept and a great song, but the delayed-ness, and overacting of the folks involved just ruined it...gave it a jaded feel. Otherwise, with the big names involved, it would have been a sure shot hit for sure.

Not just romances, it's like the writers can't comprehend characters above a certain age unless AB Sr, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, etc play them. There are so many ageless genres out there..film between siblings, father-mother-child story, thriller of any type, etc...so many possibilities, but nothing..even a Raju Hirani opts for a 45 year old Aamir to play a 20 year old college student.

We're slowly moving towards content driven films, but BW still has a long long way to go before the ageism dies. People in the industry haven't even woken up to the problem properly & addressed it...

In Hirani's defense, he wrote the age less Munna Bhai, and he wrote Rancho to fit the script, not Aamir.
It's just he bent a few rules to get Aamir to fit.

Look in other genres, you still see actors playing somewhat older characters. Like Race, ETT, Dabanng and other action flicks, you can get older heroes.

It's the romance genre I'm most hung up on coz I feel THAT has to change if our heroines are to have any hope of finding strong mainstream characters in love stories.
Until the boys decide to grow up, there is no hope for women.

But then aren't the writers just "bending the rules" in these rom-coms too at times? Like Cocktail...replaced Imran with Saif & simply made his character "older."

Hirani wrote a script for college folks, complete with a flashback and all, and only approached oldies for it...he only had SRK and then Aamir in mind.. People let him get away with it just because the film was good & Aamir botoxed his face enough to pass off as a 20 year old. Of course JTHJ was weird on another level because it was specifically written for SRK to do.

The romance genre is definitely most affected by the ageist trends for sure because of the idea that folks above 30, or at most 35 just can't fall in love or deal with issues relating to love. Hence the guys must be 25 and the girls must be 21, with just some exceptions. Well the women still get strong roles in romances, but the younger ones. The older ones have little hope on that front because while they can make the guys pass off as 25, the older ones simply can't be the 25 year olds. It's all interconnected I guess.