How old is too old for a actress to play lead?

Cinema is a visual medium and Bollywood hugely looks at our actresses as glam dolls. Our actresses unlike in Hollywood need to be the superwoman - they need to dance, act, stay slim , be fashionable all these at the same time.

I have often seen people talking about actresses being too old to play lead and that they need to retire. This is the effect of us looking at our actresses as glamorous objects. If they are married and are in the child bearing years, the pressure is even more so.

The question when we let our men play leads at 42-44, Why be harsh on the ladies?

Here are noted examples of some actresses from yester years who gave their career best beformances in the late 30s.

-Meena Kumari gave us a Pakeezah at age 39.
-Hema Malini won the best actress award for her perfomance in Rihahee at 40.

So according to you, how old is too old for a Bollywood actress to play the lead?

Age doesn't matter to me as long as they can dance...lol I loved madhuri's dance even though her last movie she was 40 years old, she was way better than actresses in their 30's and 20's.

As long as the role the actress is playing is right for her there is no problem with it at all.