Actors Think They Can Brush Off The Age Gap Debate With Humour

Salman Khan and Rashmika Mandanna were asked about the significant age gap between them at the trailer launch of their upcoming Eid release, Sikandar. In the film, he stars opposite Rashmika, who is over three decades younger than him. When asked about the age disparity, Salman responded in his signature style, using humour to brush off the critique. "They say there is a 31-year difference between the heroine and me. If the heroine doesn't have any problem or the heroine's father doesn't have any problem, then why do you have a problem?" he said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Actors Think They Can Brush Off the Age Gap Debate with Humour

He didn’t stop there, adding, "And when she (Rashmika) gets married and has a daughter and then she becomes a big star, then also we will work (together). We will get the mother (Rashmika)'s permission for sure."

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While Salman’s response entertained many, it also came across as dismissive. This isn’t the first time a Bollywood actor has deflected such criticism. Not long ago, Akshay Kumar took a similar stance when questioned about playing a romantic lead opposite younger actresses. His response was equally dismissive: "Those who criticise me for this are probably jealous."

Kumar said, “That’s because they are jealous. I can work with them. Do I look 55? I don’t understand the problem. They just get jealous and keep on writing it. Some media person will write, and some trolling will happen. Who cares?” The answer is far from diplomacy and downright frustrating because ageism in the Indian film industry has been normalised to the level that it is fodder for jokes.

In Bharat (2019), Sonali Kulkarni, who is nine years younger than Salman Khan, plays the role of his mother. In Waqt: A Race Against Time, Shefali Shah plays Akshay Kumar’s mom, even though she is five years younger. To top it off, Priyanka Chopra, who was 22, plays the female lead. In Shahrukh Khan-starrer Zero (2018), the actor who plays Khan’s mother, Sheeba Chaddha, is seven years younger than him. These are a few contemporary examples of a practice that dates back to the inception of Bollywood: movies unapologetically flaunt gendered age bias.

The age gap debate

Recent films featuring Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar have highlighted Bollywood’s glaring age-gap issue. In Samrat Prithviraj, Akshay was paired with Manushi Chhillar, with a 33-year age gap, while in Sarfira, he starred alongside Radhika Madan, with a 27-year difference.

Similarly, Salman Khan has had significant age differences with his female co-stars. He and Disha Patani, who worked together in Bharat, have a 27-year gap, while his pairing with Pooja Hegde in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan saw a 25-year difference.

This amplifies the ageism and rooted sexism problem of how as an actor grows older, he can romance actresses who are way younger than him. But the moment an actress reaches the age threshold, she's typecast into specific roles that bear minuscule value.

The entire phenomenon can be boiled down to our perceptions of beauty and ageing. The way Bollywood treats female actors reflects the way we condition women in society — we sexualise them at a young age, make them feel their self-worth is solely derived from their physical appearance, and then expect them to conform to rigid societal standards of beauty. Older men, on the other hand, get labelled as silver fox, the bearer of lively salt-and-pepper locks, but to women, we pitch plastic surgery deals, anti-ageing creams, and a billion other fillers to make them appear younger.

It probably isn't jealousy that we are feeling, but the underlying frustration and annoyance for female actors who are being robbed of good films, and well-suited roles. But who cares, because, in Hindi cinema, age is a number which affects the CV of an actress and not the superstars.

Earlier this year in May, Hollywood actors including Juliet Stevenson, Meera Syal, David Tennant and Zawe Ashton called for better onscreen representation of women older than 45 to fight against the “entrenched” ageism of the entertainment industry. In an open letter signed by more than 100 actors and public figures, the Acting Your Age Campaign (AYAC) called for equal representation in the UK between men and women over 45 and urged immediate action on a “parity pledge”.

Perhaps women in Bollywood too need to join forces and ensure that ageing male superstars learn to act and embrace their age, so that their followers can do the same.

Views expressed by the author are their own.