NOT QUITE THE BULL'S EYE? BOLLYWOOD WEIGHS IN
Ageist? Elitist? We look at makers’ tendency to ignore senior actors even for parts that are closer to their age
People don’t say anything when Aamir Khan plays a college student in 3 Idiots. Then why is so much being said about these two girls who had actually dared to take this risk of ageing on screen? TUSHAR HIRANANDANI
DIRECTOR, SAAND KI AANKH
After actor Neena Gupta recently pointed out that Bollywood filmmakers won’t cast senior artists even in roles that are closer to their age and would rather opt for much younger actors, it ignited a debate on ageism in the industry.
It all started when a Twitter user highlighted the casting of Taapsee Pannu, 32, and Bhumi Pednekar, 30, as women over 60 years of age in Saand Ki Aankh, over actors who actually fall in that age group. Neena replied to the tweet saying: “...Hamari umar ke role to kamsekam humse kara lo bhai.”
Actor Alka Amin, who has starred in Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana(2017), Kedarnath (2018) and Luka Chuppi, agrees with Neena. “I think this is a valid point that is being made and I completely agree with Neena Gupta. When you are casting young actors, you have to [make] a lot of efforts to make them look old. It looks unnatural. It is easier for actors around the similar age to play these characters,” she says.
Echoing similar sentiments, actor Himani Shivpuri, who has been part of films such as Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), adds, “I’m sure [Taapsee and Bhumi] can easily get more films where they have to play roles closer to their age. I don’t want to take [anything] away from the talent of Taapsee or Bhumi but giving them the roles of our age does take away our [opportunities]. These young actors still have got a lot of time to do those roles.”
Why, then, are Bollywood filmmakers opting for the whole rigorous procedure of transforming young actors into older women with the aid of prosthetics and make up? “It is a mental block that makers have. They are not very receptive... that’s their thought process. We can’t change that overnight. Young actors ko lene ka ye fitoor hai industry mein... It will take some time before everyone realises that this is not okay,” Alka says.
In his defence, director Tushar Hiranandani insists that the idea was to work with actors whose height, body structure matched the shooter dadis. “People don’t say anything when Aamir Khan plays a college student in 3 Idiots (2009). Then why is so much being said about these two girls who had actually dared to take this risk of ageing on screen?” asks Tushar.
Shedding light on another crucial factor that prompted him to cast young actors, he says, “This is a sports film that requires fitness, too. That was another reason to cast young actors. Every effort has been put in to make the narrative appealing. Nothing else was going on in our minds.”
Actor Seema Pahwa adds that filmmakers are also not interested in casting ‘character actors’ in the lead since they probably don’t find the proposition commercially viable. “Yeh cheezein unhein film ke hith mein dekhna padhta hai shayad. If there is a newcomer in a film, to balance the performance level they will also take actors like us. And if they want to take age appropriate actors, they will go for superstars like Rishi ji, Neetu ji, Amitabh ji, par issey zyada koi himmat nahin karta,” shares the Ankhon Dekhi (2014) and Barelly Ki Barfi (2017) actor
But Supriya Pathak, 58, has a different take. She feels that there are more roles for senior female actors than there were before. “When we were younger, other older actors wouldn’t get interesting roles, so there is definitely an improvement in the kind of roles offered. If there is content with older people, today is the time when it can reach audiences more than it would have earlier,” she says.
Seema, too, doesn’t want to jump to a conclusion with the film just yet.
“I think we should watch the film before commenting any further. If the treatment is good and the actors have performed well — given that both Taapsee and Bhumi are good actors, then that definitely works,” she says.