Youth the New Mantra of Bollywood

In a country which has a burgeoning population between the age group of 16 to 30, gone is the time when the audiences would like to see a 40 something romance a 20 something. Gone too are the days of a middle aged hero trying to pass off as a college boy.

There was a time not too long ago, when one had middle aged heroes masquerading as college going students. But these days, when the majority of the population is young, and by logical extension, so is the majority of the cinema watching audience, the focus on youth and youth oriented films becomes so much more significant. That would probably explain the emergence of a strong breed of newcomers both male and female, who have emerged in Bollywood, like a Ranbir Kapoor, an Imran Khan, a Abhay Deol, a Neil Nitin Mukesh, a John Abraham, an Abhishek Bachchan or a Shahid Kapur among males and a Katrina Kaif, Asin and Genelia D'Souza among the females. Of course, it is equally true that a Shah Rukh Khan or an Aamir Khan can still probably carry off a role opposite one of the young females. But it is also equally true that gradually they will find it difficult to be cast romantically opposite the young brigade. Though in Bollywood, it is an age old tradition that heroes never become old, but women do. But one sees this barrier breaking with the invasion of youth. There has always been a trickle of new blood entering the industry every year, but in the last year or so, it has changed into something more than a trickle. One has younger filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap finally becoming commercially accepted as well. It makes one wonder if youth power is here to stay or is it just another passing fancy in Bollywood. But a look at the forthcoming releases of the year leads one to believe that it may just be something more enduring than a matter of timing. The lineup of films over the next few months of this year would have films like Soham Shah's Luck, with Imran and Shruti Hassan, besides Sanjay Dutt of course. There are also films like New York, a young director and a young cast in John, Neil and Katrina, Raj Kumar Santoshi's Ajab Desh Ki Gazab Kahani starring Ranbir and Katrina, Vishal Bharadwaj's Kaminey starring Shahid and Priyanka, Ken Ghosh's film with Shahid and Genelia Anees bazmee's It's My Life with Harman Baweja and Genelia and Yash Raj's Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year with Ranbir and Shahzan Padamsee. These are all major films being made by directors of repute and it hjust goes ahead to seal the argument that youth power is here to stay in Bollywood. That leads one to the next question. Where do the SRKs, the Aamir Khans and the Salman Khans go from here? It would be interesting to see these actors reinventing themselves and staying in the competition.