Ageism has always been a major issue in Bollywood. From countless debates and controversies, the solution to this problem was never found. Ageism is still there and seeing the current scenario of Bollywood it seems it always will be. While actors in their 50s like Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, and Amir Khan constantly get to play the lead hero role in movies, romancing alongside actresses, female actors are declined opportunities once they start aging. It’s like the end of an actress’s career is when they start to age. They become almost invisible to the directors and producers so they’re offered to play the role of a mother of actors like Salman Khan or Shahrukh Khan.
This is not the case for male actors in the industry. Be it Bollywood, Tollywood, or Kollywood, ageism is everywhere. Not so long ago Jr. NTR was criticized for romancing Janhvi Kapoor in the movie Devara when they both have an age difference of 14 years. Similarly, Dia Mirza shared an incident with Salman Khan where he jokingly exposed this ingrained notion of Bollywood. They both shared the screen in “Tumko Na Bhool Payenge” in 2002. Dia Mirza shared that while being on the set Salman Khan made a joke saying how she’ll be playing the role of his mother one day.
The actress recalled “Hum shoot kar rahe the Rajpal Yadav ke saath and bahut funny scene chal raha tha. Scene ke time pe jo lady Salman ki mother play kar rahi thi woh bhi thi. She was waiting for her shot. Salman aise hi mujhse kehte hain, ‘Tumko pata hain ki ek time pe this lady who is playing my mother was my heroine!’ I said kya (We were shooting with Rajpal Yadav, and during that scene, the actor who was playing Salman’s mother was waiting for her shot. Salman then told me that the same lady played the heroine in one of his early films! I was like what)? I was shocked, I could not believe it! He was like yeah she was my leading lady in a film. I was like, then she is your age and she is playing your mother? He was like, yeah and one day, you will play my mother!”
As the actress grow older they’re offered the role of a sister, mother, or a supporting character. Even the actresses who were the face of romantic superhits are barely seen onscreen nowadays, take the example of Kajol, Madhuri Dixit, or Juhi Chawla. They’ll have to struggle to death to find the same amount of fame today. This discrepancy in Bollywood reflects that the value of an actress starts diminishing as they grow older. If you’re young you’ll be cherished. Their beauty is all that matters to the Directors and producers and not their talent.
Comment down if you feel this double standard of Bollywood need to stop.
