Heroes in their 50s romancing 20-something heroines is not new to Indian cinema. A few decades ago it was Rishi Kapoor in Bollywood and MG Ramachandran in the South who danced around the trees with with younger women. Few years back, we had Aamir Khan wooing the 24-year-old Asin in Ghajini, Shah Rukh Khan in love with 21-year-old Anuskha Sharma in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Salman Khan’s real-life lady love, Katrina Kaif in many films. Rajnikanth of course leads the pack.
But in recent years, we have seen films with the leading lady being much older though it is a known fact that heroines do lie about their age. Known as the Bollywood Diva, Rekha romanced much younger hero, Akshay Kumar in Khilaodiyon Ka Khiladi. Their age gap was 15 years. Another popular actress, Sridevi worked with Salman Khan in Chandramukhi and Chand Ka Thukda and their age difference was 6 to 7 years. Dil Chahta Hai saw Dimple Kapadia paired opposite Akshay Khanna.
Going back to the history of cinema, Shammi Kapoor worked with heroines like Geeta Bali and Suraiya who were much older to him. Not long ago, we saw Ranbir Kapoor opposite Bipasha Basu and Kareena Kapoor opposite Imran Khan.
It has become a general trend in Sandalwood too. For instance, Shivarajkumar paired up with much younger Ragini Dwivedi in Shiva and now with Aindrita Ray in Bajarangi. Senior actors, Ramesh Aravind will be seen opposite Harshika Ponacha in Mangana Kaiyali Manikya and Hari Priya is paired opposite Crazy star Ravichandran in Manjina Hani. But of late the trend has changed. Filmmakers in Kannada have taken the other way round and have been selecting heroines who are much older to the hero. First in line is Ramya, who has been paired opposite younger heroes including Yogi, who is in his early 20s, and has worked with her in Siddlingu. Then we have Prajwal Devaraj, who is in his mid-20s, paired opposite Ramya in Dil Ka Raja. The actress will also be seen with Diganth in an untitled project directed by Kodi Ramakrishna.
“If a 45-year-old hero romances a 20-year-old and it works, then what is wrong in working with a much experienced and senior heroine?,” asks Yogi, adding, “In case of Siddlingu, the character demanded somebody older to me. I don’t mind working opposite Ramya in future too as she is a good friend and it is always good to work with a senior actress.” On whether it is the storyline or the popularity of the actress that demands them to work with younger heroes, Vijay Prasad, director of Siddlingu said, “Age and popularity are never taken into consideration when I select the characters for the film. I strongly believe that the films works only when we choose to have the right people suitable for that particular role. If done as a gimmick and only for popularity, then the film will not hold good for a long time,” he said.
It has also been evident that the conservative cinegoers have got adjusted to watching older heroes romancing younger heroines but there is always a curiosity built among people when a senior actress works opposite a younger hero.
However with Super stars preferring to work with a new heroine in each film, it is but obvious that we see heroines making news by working with young heroes.