Ageism in the film industry is a reality even in the times of OTT, where youth does not determine an actress' shelf-life

Mona

At the recent Grammys, Madonna introduced Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s performance of Unholy in a white shirt, black tie, and suit, but more than the historical act, it was her pigtail hairstyle that grabbed eyeballs. How a woman in her 60s present herself took the attention away from the very first trans act at the prestigious music awards.

Ageism has plagued women’s choices. How they dress, who do they marry or the roles that they are offered follow a social diktat. And even though the world is going through a change, the pace is painfully slow.

Ageism is a reality that even the Material Girl cannot escape; the impossible standards of beauty and appropriacy continue to limit, what women can achieve or do with their lives. If Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith have broken the glass ceiling in Hollywood, only a handful; closer home, Indian films continue to celebrate men well in their 50s, and the actresses still struggle to stay relevant past turning a certain age.

Right from Sharmila Tagore, Madhuri Dixit to Neena Gupta have talked about actresses not getting to explore their full arc, for society is yet to acknowledge women past a certain age. Madhuri Dixit personifies Ek Do Teen, so why have Jacqueline Fernandez in the remake? Sushmita Sen in her iconic Dilbar track has been replaced by Nora Fatehi. OLE OLE 2.0 in Jawaani Jaaneman brings Saif Ali Khan back, not Kajol; Tip Tip song in Sooryavanshi has Akshay Kumar from the original back, but not Raveena Tandon.

Films take another extreme. Sanjay Dutt at 54 romanced Prachi Desai (25) in Policegiri; Akshay Kumar at 46 had Kajal Aggarwal (28) opposite him in Special Chabbis; Ajay Devgn at 44 was paired opposite Tamanna (24) in Himmatwala, SRK had romanced actresses like Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma, both half his age in Rab De Bana De Jodi and Om Shanti Om.

Actor Konkona Sen has pointed out that when it comes to portraying women on screen, there is hardly any representation of women over 30. Neena Gupta too has been vocal about not getting work. On young actors doing roles for older women as well Neena Gupta replied to a fan on Twitter saying, “Yes I was just thinking about this hamari umar ke role to kam se kam humse kara lo bhai, ” she tweeted back when Saand Ki Aankh released in 2019.

Actor Pranitaa Pandit sees ageism as an established mindset. “Our conditioning is so deep that it reflects in how the industry treats its women. We are not allowed to express ourselves the way we want to because we know we will be criticised. Be it the industry or society, there have been double standards.”

Actress Kate Sharma says, “There is no age limit for being good enough to work in the industry. It’s unfortunate that stories for older female actors aren’t written as compared to male actors. It’s even more unfortunate that an older male actor is forced to play younger roles. But, thankfully, more and more people are producing content that defies stereotypes.”

Actress Sonu Chadrapal believes in the dictum “live and let live”. “It’s difficult to age gracefully, let alone in an industry that idolises and worships youth and beauty. It’s unfortunate that age eclipses an actress’ talent.”

Hitanshu Jinsi points out that male actors who work with female actors half their age are often producers themselves. According to Charrul Malik, ageism exists in both Bollywood and Hollywood. “In serials, when you get older, you automatically manage to fit into the roles of mother and bhabhi or saas,” points out Malik.

On the brighter side, OTT has started taking small steps towards defying ageism. Shefali Shah’s career was catapulted by Delhi Crime, and rightfully so. OTT has brought back a host of wonderful performers, including Neena Gupta and Maduri Dixit, back to the screens.