‘Vikrama Simha’ – Rajinikanth,
63, and Deepika Padukone, 28
‘Masala’ – Venkatesh, 53 and
Anjali, 27
‘Policegiri’ – Sanjay Dutt, 54
and Prachi Desai, 25
It is a cliché we’re used to
seeing on screen. Be it in Bollywood or Tollywood, actors don’t bat an eyelid
when it comes to the wrong casting. A
veteran actor with shades to cover his wrinkles, a wig to mask his bald pate
and a belt to hold up his paunch, and right next to him is his ‘ladylove,’ a
pretty, young actress on the throes of youth. In most cases, the actress would
have literally grown up watching his movies.
The latest example is 52-year-old
Rajashekar’s under production film, ‘Gaddam Gang’. The actor recently drew flak for posing with
the actress of the film, Sheena Shahabadi, 28, who appeared like his daughter
next to him. Sheena was replaced in the nth hour after the original choice -
Anjali Lavania of ‘Panjaa’ fame - opted out of the film. However, the interesting thing is that this
trend isn’t new to the industry and goes back to the 70s and 80s when en masse
hero worship was at its zenith.
Says Telugu film historian,
Mamidi Harikrishna, “The film industry is male-dominated and we all are part of
a patriarchal society. During the time of NTR and ANR, audiences worshipped
them and it was that devotion which made them forgo the factor of age and
accept them romancing young heroines.”
The heroine’s career
“A heroine has a short career
span in the film industry and there is a constant lookout for a new look and
young faces. So out went Anjali, Krishna Kumari and the likes, and enter
Sridevi, Jayaprada, Jayasudha and a slew of other new generation of actresses,”
he adds.
Interestingly Sridevi had played
granddaughter to NTR in the film ‘Badi Pantulu’, and a few years later, she was
seen serenading him with moves and grooves.
Harikrishna says that the reason
for a heroine’s career span being shorter to the hero’s can be mostly
attributed to the audiences’ acceptability. “There is a great discrimination
between male and female here. A hero is accepted regardless of his age or
fitness levels. But unfortunately, the audiences expect the heroines to look
fresh and youthful,” explains Harikrishna. Trade analyst Komal Nahta, in an
interview to a prominent film magazine: says, "If the audience can accept
an older hero, why isn't the same logic applied to heroines as well?”
The heroine’s ‘dream’
At a point of time, actresses
were in awe of working with legends like NTR, ANR and later Chiranjeevi. But
today, the trend has changed and actresses these days are boldly saying no.
Understanding that the pairing looks “unusual”, many renowned heroines are
giving a firm rejection to such roles offered to them. There are instances
where Anushka, Nithya Menen and Kajal Aggarwal refused films which required
them to romance the ageing Superstars of Tollywood.
The spiral
The 70s and 80s saw a great
impetus in the combination of the aging hero and the young heroine. However,
after NTR’s political entry in 1983 and the emergence of a young brigade of
heroes –
Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna,
Suman, Venkatesh et al, audience again saw the young heroes opposite young
heroines. It is ironical how Sridevi, who romanced ANR in ‘Premabhishekam’ was
also seen alongside his son Nagarjuna in films like ‘Aakari Poratam’, ‘Khuda
Gawah’ and ‘Govinda Govinda’.
We now have another young brigade
of actors like Prabhas, NTR, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, Ram etc. and after a
decade or so this trend is going to repeat because they will have begun to age
and the audiences’ demands will be the same. So is this like a cycle that
repeats itself? Film enthusiasts would rather call it “a spiral” which just
keeps continuing.
A change probably? “No!” says
Harikrishna adding that “until the society’s ideology and point of view doesn’t
change, this will remain the same.”
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