Enough Of Rs 100-Crore Movies, Bollywood’s Middle-Aged Demi-Gods Need All-Time Classics Now

Fifty is the new 30 in Bollywood now! There was a time when reigning stars of Hindi film industry dreaded turning 40, thinking it would signal the twilight of their careers after years of heady stardom and mass adulation.

But for the current generation of big stars, age is definitely a state of mind. Almost all of them have either turned 50 or are close to crossing the landmark and yet, none of them is showing signs of any middle-age blues. Far from it, they are getting much more saleable with each of their new releases.

Aamir Khan has just delivered Dangal, the highest-ever grosser in the history of Bollywood, at the age of 51. Two of his extremely popular contemporaries of the same age – Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan – came up with Sultan and Dear Zindagi last year, playing leads opposite actresses much younger than them. Anushka Sharma was barely three-and-a-half month-old toddler when Salman’s Biwi Ho To Aisi was released in 1988; and Alia Bhatt was born a year after Shah Rukh’s early movies,Deewana and Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman hit the screen way back in 1992.

Two other A-listers, Akshay Kumar (49) and Ajay Devgan (47), too, are also on the wrong side of the forties but that has not prevented them from working with heroines younger by 20 to 30 years. Sayyeshaa Saigal was barely 19 when Devgn’s Shivaay was released last year while Bhoomi Pednekar, Akshay’s heroine in his upcoming ‘Toilet -- Ek Prem Katha’ is 22 years younger than him.

Ageing actors playing lead opposite actresses half their age is not a new phenomenon, though. Raj Kapoor was 44 when he serenaded a 20-year-old debutante Hema Malini in Sapno ka Saudagar (1968) while Dev Anand was a 55-year-young man when he introduced a 20-year-old Tina Munim opposite him in Des Pardes (1978). Dev was often called ‘evergreen’ because of his ability to look young till late in his career but today’s stars appear set to eclipse his reputation by going strong in their 50s.

What actually sets the current breed of actors apart from their predecessors is the way they have managed their career in the past 15 years or so. Strict diet and fitness regimen, careful selection of roles and effective use of new technologies in digital era have helped them all prolong their careers as lead actors. That way they have emulated their counterparts in Hollywood where 50-plus actors such as George Clooney (55), Tom Cruise (54), Brad Pitt (53) and Johnny Depp (53) remain the eternal heart-throbs even today.

Still, what should be worrisome for the Indian superstars is the quality of their work so far. Most of them are still waiting for that one film which will go down in the annals of history as an all-time classic. True, a majority of stars from the olden days led hedonistic lives, paid scant attention to their fitness and paid the price with truncated careers but they all delivered at least one knockout movie at relatively young age at some point of time. Raj Kapoor came up with Awara (1951) when he was barely 27, Dilip Kumar had his Devdas (1955) at 33 and Dev Anand, known more for style than substance, had classics like Hum Dono (1961) and Guide (1965) at 38 and 42 respectively. Above all, Guru Dutt had Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) even before he had turned 35.

Even popular stars of the 1970s and 1980s had had their classics at the prime of their youth, not to speak of young actors of the so-called parallel cinema such as Naseeruddin Shah (Sparsh in1980) and Om Puri (Ardh Satya in1984) from that era. Rajesh Khanna’s Anand (1970) was released when he was only 28 years old and Deewar (1975) elicited a sledgehammer performance from a 33-year-old Amitabh Bachachan.

One wonders whether names of any movie of the current breed of ‘ageless wonders’ could be taken in the same breath. Aamir Khan, of course, has had a few movies with substance such as Taare Zameen Par, Lagaan and 3 Idiots (okay, even Dangal!) but none of them could be bracketed with the gems of yore such as Kaagaz ke Phool, Pyaasa or Guide. Still, Aamir’s repertoire remains far better than that of any of his contemporaries. Shah Rukh’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge (1995) and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2001) starring Salman and Devgan were immensely enjoyable movies but they could not be hailed as classics despite their long runs at the box office. 

Akshay, in recent years, has been coming up with interesting concepts in his movies such as Baby (2015) and Airlift (2016) but his ‘quickies’ are, at best, meant for box office returns rather than any aesthetic sensibility.

It is not as though stars like SRK have not tried. He made Paheli (2005) to get out of the commercial rut but its failure apparently deterred him from venturing out of his comfort zone in subsequent years. His recent valiant bid with Dear Zindagi (2016) to break the stereotypes surrounding his image, however, has raised a glimmer of hope. 

These stars, regardless of their demi-god status at the turnstiles, must bear it in mind that stardom and adulation are ephemeral for any artiste; it is only his work that will book him a place in the pantheon of all-time greats. Guru Dutt died before the age of 40 but he will forever remain part of the good Indian cinema. 

It is still not late for today’s middle-aged superstars to give up their obsession for Rs 100-crore projects and make a beginning for one great movie that will leave a lump in the throat of the audience, stand the test of time and be called a true classic with a capital C.