Acting his age

When you are working in an industry where looks are given paramount importance, it might be a nerve-wrecking task to come in terms with your increasing age. It is perhaps why Bollywood actors try to keep themselves unbelievably fit even in their 50s and are eager to play the boy-meet-girl roles. But the clock doesn’t stop for anyone and one can’t defy ageing for long. Moreover, as the audience is growing smater they have started to question the 50-year-old male actors playing a college boy or romancing much younger actresses.

So to meet the demands of the audience, things are changing and luckily for the better. With a wave of change flowing through the industry, many male actors are finally embracing ageing and are doing age-appropriate roles. For instance, Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan are playing 50-year-old men in De De Pyaar De and Jawaani Janeman, respectively. Changing the course, we will soon see Salman Khan play a senior citizen in Bharat and Irrfan Khan will be seen potraying Radhika Madan’s father in Angrezi Medium. Irrfan, however, remains an exception as the actor has never shied away from taking a non-hero role. Besides, he has done several roles portraying men of various age groups, including a father in Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006) and Hindi Medium (2017).

Poster Bharat

As for the Singham actor, he feels absolutely secure as an actor even at 50. “I tell people often that at 50, I can do whatever I used to do in my 20s. If I couldn’t, then I would say that there is insecurity, but there is no insecurity right now,” says Devgn.

Prasing the actor’s vigour, trade analyst Taran Adarsh says, “Isn’t it wonderful that Ajay openly says that he is 50-year-old in the trailer and the first poster of Salman’s Bharat shows him as a senior citizen. I think today actors have become very realistic and practical. People are so sharp that you can’t play a college student at the age of 40. If you are doing that then the film has rejection written all over it.”

However, producer-actor Arbaaz Khan feels what Anupam Kher did in Saaransh (1984) was commendable, as the veteran actor who was young at that point of time went ahead and played the role of a much older man.

“We have seen it earlier that actors never embraced their age, they wanted to be college kids forever. I don’t want to name films but it has happened. When you have been in the industry for 25 years, you mature as an actor so the least you can do is play your age,” says Arbaaz and adds, “What Anupamji did in Saaransh was commendable because he was so young when he played the role of an old man. Look at 3 Idiots, it is not too old and even then they played college kids. Of course, it had great content but we got away with these things.”

What Arbaaz says is unfortunately true. However, thanks to social media and the evolved audience, more and more people are questioning actors who are failing to embrace ageing or taking up roles that seem odd, thus helping or rather pushing everyone to do more realistic cinema and roles. Besides, the memes and social media trolls are something one can hardly escape.

Arbaaz Khan

“In the times of social media, you can’t be playing around. Social media can be so ruthless that they can pull you down to any extent. They will make so many memes. It is teaching us a lesson. It is important to look at the character,” says Taran.

However, Arbaaz contradicts Taran and says, “Nobody takes these trollers seriously so we should not give credit to them but I feel it is because of the audience. They have matured.”

Undoubtedly, the audience has matured and they are voicing their opinion more loudly than ever and not necessarily in the form of trolling. Besides, sooner or later, one has to embrace ageing and actors like Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, Irrfan Khan are raising the bar in the industry. On the other hand, Saif, who usually comes across as an extremely cool guy, calls ageing as frightening.

Saif Ali Khan

“I used to think that I will be 50 soon, then 60, then 70, and then it will all be over. Of course, it is frightening. But I think I will be a really cool 60-year-old, I will come to terms with it. When you stop being scared, you decide to live in the present and not worry about these things,” philosophies Saif.

While the discussion on ageing would continue to go on, a word of wisdom comes from Sunny Deol. The 60-year-old actor believes whatever one does on screen is fine if it looks believable.

“I think nobody is running away from age. People keep writing and mentioning about it but this is an ageless place where you are playing some age or the other. That’s what you are supposed to do. Whatever you do on the screen should look believable and as long as you can do that, it will work,” concludes the Gadar actor.