How come viewers down South accept a 60 year old man as a hero, that too with girls young enough to be his daughters (and sometimes younger than his daughters)? They know how their Superstar looks like in real life and how this youthful persona in films, is all fake (methinks half the money in budget of those films goes into making the grandpa type actor look young!), those stunts etc. are all fake. Yet they lap it up like anything! Why?
Whereas in Bollywood, whispers about age difference start cropping up the moment an actor turns 40 and it reaches an all time high as he inches towards 50. Especially 50+ actors are laughed at, and nearly subjected to lynching in print if they continue to act as hero in their set romantic/angry man image (Sooryavansham, Lal Badshah types are legendary jokes).
We love Big B but I'm sure no one will accept him (even if he's made to look nearly like his self in 1980s atleast with all make up and technology in the world) as a lead hero, with a nubile 20 something girl as his heroine in a typical angry young man kind of film. While in South Rajinikanth goes ahead and gives Robot, Sivaji which end up as biggest hits.
As Bollywood audience we cringe at attempts like Cheeni Kum and Nishabd, puke at Wafaa. The closest we've accepted is a Baghban where both actors are playing their age and parent/grandparent angle is woven in (I'm sure it would have been rejected if it was just about oldies romancing each other).
Why this difference between Bollywood and South audience? How come fans down South never mind their Kamal Haasan or Rajinikanth playing heroes alongside Asins and Shriyas whereas Bollywood fans would declare the actor is suffering from delusions/crisis if a Bolly actor does the same after 50?
PS - I won't judge whether fans are right or wrong in accepting old man play young man roles. But the stark difference in audience response always surprises me, so I just felt like discussing why things are the way they are!
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