The trending topic of Bollywood is none other than the upcoming release, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil – and its sizzling chemistry between the lead pair – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor. Why is it so special? Ranbir Kapoor – the youth sensation is paired with Bollywood diva Aishwarya, who is 9 years older to him. It is not the first time Aishwarya has been paired with younger heroes. Ranbir too has worked with elder heroines like Konkana Sen, and delivered box office hits. But it’s a new and positive trend in Bollywood where age is no bar for pairing onscreen, and now Bollywood is experimenting with some amazing pairs onscreen. Movie buffs too have welcomed this new trend in a positive way, and they give importance to how they look together onscreen, and their chemistry.
Aishwarya Rai and Ranbir Kapoor in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
An era when older heroes were paired with younger heroines
If we look back at the eras of 1960-1980s, male actors fully dominated the industry, and the career of heroines was short lived. For the same reason, male stars who ruled the box office preferred to work with only younger heroines, except stray instances in the past. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna etc were among those leading names who worked with heroines almost half of their age during this time. Such a trend is still followed by south Indian cinema, where senior actors like Rajinikanth, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Venkatesh etc still work with heroines in their early 20s.
It’s true the leading Khans of Bollywood who have already crossed 50 work with younger heroines of 20s and early 30s like Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif etc. But audience has also accepted the screen pairing of senior heroines with younger heroes, which is still a taboo to many regional language films if script is not demanding so.
Aishwarya Rai – One of the early successful heroines to start this trend in 1990s
Aishwarya Rai and Zayed Khan in Shabd
Aishwarya Rai is married to Abhishek, who is two years younger to her. She has been paired multiple times with her real-life hero Abhishek Bachchan for the movies – Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Kuch Na Kaho, Sarkar Raj, Umrao Jaan, Raavan and Guru. She briefly dated Vivek Oberoi, three years younger to her, and they were paired for the movie – Kyon! Ho Gaya Na, which bombed at box office. She was paired with Akshay Khanna for 1999 musical – Taal, one of her early hits.Similar to Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Khanna is two years younger to her.
Aishwarya’s pairing with Hrithik Roshan has always received appreciation, though she is a couple of months older to him, Doom and Jodha Akbar being the best instances. Down the south, she has been paired with younger Prithviraj for Mani Ratnam’s multilingual, Raavanan. They have a pretty good gap of 9 years, similar to her age difference with Ranbir Kapoor. She was also seen romancing with much younger Zayed Khan for the romantic flick – Shabd.
Kareena Kapoor – The most trending name in this category right now
Kareena Kapoor is one of the well-established actresses of Bollywood, who earned recognition by her own right. Though she is 36 years old, she look like a girl of late 20s onscreen, and obviously young heroes too are interested in working with her. Her pairing with young heroes – Arjun Kapoor (born in 1985) in Ki & Ka and Diljit Dosanjh (born in 1984) in Udta Punjab were well-appreciated, and both these films were box office hits of 2016. In 2015, she sizzled with Sidharth Malhotra for the item song – Mary for the movie, Brothers.
Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in Ki & Ka
Kareena Kapoor has been paired multiple times with Shahid Kapoor who is 5 months younger to him. One of the celebrated Bollywood love stories of new millennium, Jab We Met became a smash hit at box office. Fida, China Town, Chup Chup Ke and Milenge Milenge are other flicks where they shared screen space.
Kareena’s screen chemistry with youth sensation Imran Khan for 2012 movie – Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu was well appreciated, and the movie was a box office hit. It was since then an era of pairing of established heroines with younger heroes started in Bollywood. Since then the formula has succeeded in box office several times as well. Though the successful pair worked together for Gori Tere Pyaar Mein in 2013, the movie couldn’t repeat the success of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu.
Female artists are established names in industry now
Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerji in Dil Bole Hadippa
Now female artists are much more independent and they earn a name in the industry by their own right and hard work. They are choosy for their roles, and demand for better scripts if they want. It’s a positive change in Bollywood in the past one decade or so. Days have gone when age 25+ or 30+ actresses were considered for sister or mother roles. In fact, actresses have become career oriented, and they are patient enough to stay for a long time to reach a position which they dream about. They also give so much importance to their physical fitness and beauty and appear comparatively young than their actual age. That may be the reason why almost all successful actresses of Bollywood are 30+ or age close to 30.
Married heroines too receive support from their husbands to work in Bollywood; a positive trend definitely. Obviously young heroes are not reluctant to work with established and beautiful heroines, though elder to them.
Year 2016 – Young heroes are willing to pair with elder and established heroines
Aditya Roy Kapoor and Katrina Kaif for Fitoor – One of the top pairs of 2016
Year 2016 has witnessed several romantic pairing of young heroes with elder heroines. In most these cases, heroines are well-established names and heroes, too popular among youngsters. It was an era when soon after a hero finds a place in Bollywood, he works with younger and popular heroines only. It was a common trend in 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. So, young heroes of today are to be appreciated for their willingness to work with senior heroines.
Some of the popular pairs which got noticed in 2016 include – Siddharth Roy Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in Fitoor, Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif in Baar Baar Dekho, Kareena Kapoor and Diljit in Udta Punjab, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor in Ki and Ka etc. Though Fitoor was a box office flop, screen chemistry of Siddharth Roy Kapoor and Katrina Kaif grabbed attention of their fans a lot.
Such pairs who dated in real life
We have witnessed wonderful screen chemistry of Akshay Khanna and Dimple Kapadia for the movie, Dil Chahta Hai as per script demanded. But a few fresh pairing of youngsters of present generation have been experimented on silver screen. Very often such pairs have briefly dated, and popular Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai jodi tied marriage knot as well. Latest couple joining the list is Bipasha Basu-Karan Singh Grover couple who have an age gap of three years. They worked together for the horror movie, Alone in 2015, and briefly dated before they tied knot in 2016.
Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan in Guru
Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Rai, Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor (age difference by only a few months), Harman Baweja – Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut – Adhyayan Suman (for Raaz: The Mystery Continues) are other pairs who worked together, briefly dated as well, though they separated later. The tragic romantic story of Meena Kumari and Dharmendra in the 1960s, who shared screen space for a few movies cannot be forgotten easily. Click here to know more.
Kangana Ranaut and Adhyayan Suman in Raaz: The Mystery Continues
A few more popular pairs got noticed in the recent times
Let us see a few instances. Shruti Hassan opposite Girish Kumar in Ramaiya Vastavaiya, Karishma Kapoor opposite Rajneesh Duggal in Dangerous Ishq, Rani Mukerji opposite Prithviraj in Ayya, Shahid Kapoor opposite Rani Mukerji in Dil Bole Hadippa!, Shahid Kapoor opposite Vidya Balan in Kismat Connection, Emraah Hashmi opposite Vidya Balan in Humari Aduri Kahani, Bipasha Basu and Neil Nitin Mukesh in Aa Dekhen Zara etc are some of the instances where movies met with box office failure.
Imraan Khan and Poorna Jagannathan in Delhi Belly, Konkona Sen Sharma with Ranbir Kapoor in Wake Up Sid, Kareena Kapoor and Diljit in Udta Punjab, Imraan Khan and Kareena Kapoor in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu etc are some of the instances which met with critical and commercial success. Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapoor in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Bipasha Basu opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ee Hasseeno were also commercial hits.
Ranbir Kapoor and Konkana Sen Sharma in Wake Up Sid
Priyanka Chopra worked with Ranbir Kapoor, a few months younger to her in the critically acclaimed and commercially successful film – Barfi. They were paired for the commercial flop – Anjaana Anjaani. Priyanka, an international brand now has worked with younger heroes – Harman Baweja in his debut film, Love Story 2050 and What’s Your Raashee?, Ranvir Singh and Arjun Kapoor in Gunday, Darshan Kumar in Mary Kom and Ram Charan in Zanjeer.
Ranbir Kapoor, known as a youth sensation too has never been reluctant to work with heroines of his age or very much elder to him like Aishwarya Rai. Rani Mukerji was seen romancing him in his debut film Saawariya. He has worked with Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu and Konkona Sen Sharma also. Ranbir was seen romancing much older Madhuri Dixit for the popular item song – Ghagra for Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani.
To conclude
Dimple Kapadia and Akshay Khanna in Dil Chahta Hai
Earlier younger heroes have been casted opposite elder heroines only if age difference forms a theme of the story; for instance – Dimple Kapadia and Akshay Khanna in Dil Chahta Hai, Rishi Kapoor and Raakhee in Doosra Aadmi etc. But the trend is changing right now, as every artist is seeing cinema in a professional approach, at right being doing good to Bollywood.
The artists are simply seeing them as characters which they portray onscreen, and not any emotional attachment for the characters. By doing so, it seems young male artists and struggling heroes are benefited most, and heroines too look young if paired with younger heroes. Let the trend of casting continue, and it will definitely benefit talented heroines as well, to get good roles in movies. And let us accept the fact – Age is just a number marking the flow of every human life, and nothing more than that!
Recent Comments