Changing trends: At last, Bollywood gals are wooing younger heroes

In an interesting shift, our leading actresses are being paired opposite younger actors, too. This feat was a grave taboo even as little as a decade ago, but times seem to be changing ever so slowly. Here are a few films that showcased this - 

 

Bipasha Basu with Ranbir Kapoor and Neil Nitin Mukesh:

 

Bong beauty Bipasha starred opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Bachna Ae Haseeno, and with Neil Nitin Mukesh in Aa Dekhen Zara. Both actors are about four years younger than her. 

 

Rekha with Akshay Kumar: 

Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi saw veteran actor Rekha share a passionate relationship with then rising star Akshay Kumar. According to the reports, there was a rumour that Akshay and Rekha allegedly had a short fling. During the shooting of Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, the grapevine insisted that the two actors grew close to each other and the veteran actress was reported to be 'madly in love' with Akshay. 

 

Konkona Sen Sharma with Ranbir Kapoor: 

 

Ayan Mukerji’s coming-of-age film featured Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma (who is about four years older than him) in Wake Up Sid. The fact that the movie's storyline also had them them playing an older woman in love with a young college boy probably worked in their favour. 

 

Priyanka Chopra with Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor 

Priyanka Chopra, who was then 33, appeared with two younger actors - Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor - in Gunday. Priyanka went on to do the blockbuster period drama Bajirao Mastani with Ranveer Singh.

 

Katrina Kaif with Aditya Roy Kapoor:

 

Katrina Kaif starred with Aditya Roy Kapoor, who is two years younger than her, in Abhishek Kapoor's Fitoor. Katrina and Aditya's hot chemistry was much talked about and appreciated.

 

 

Other similar examples include - Rani Mukerji with Shahid Kapoor in Dil Bole Hadippa, Vidya Balan with Shahid Kapoor and Emran Hashmi in Kismat Konnection and Ghanchakkar respectively. 

 

However, before we get too excited about this new trend, let us remember that on the other side not only is the practice rampant, but sometimes the age gaps are quite ludicrous.

 

 

There was a huge age gap of nearly 20 years between Prem Ratan Dhan Payo lead pair Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor. Similar gaps existed between Rajinikanth and Radhika Apte, Deepika Padukone and Sonakshi Sinha.

 

 

Perhaps the one that takes the entire cake is Chiranjeevi (61), who recently acted with Kajal (31), in Telugu film Khaidi No 150. Not only is Kajal younger than his daughters, but she has also played the lover of Chiranjeevi's son - Ram Charan Teja - in several movies!

 

The examples, even extreme ones, seem endless. Sonam Kapoor and Bobby Deol played husband and wife in 2011. Sonam was 25, and Bobby was 44.  In the movie Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, which was released in 2010, Kangna Ranaut was only 23  and Ajay Devgn, who played her lover, was 41. 

 

 

Asin played Aamir'€™s love interest in the movie Ghajini, which was her Bollywood debut. She was 23 when the film released in 2008. Aamir was 20 years older. When Prachi Desai acted beside Sanjay Dutt (53), she was 24-years-old.  FYI,  Sanjay's eldest daughter Trishala is also 24. 

 

In the movie Heera Panna, Zeenat Aman was 22 and Dev Anand 50. In Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi Anushka Sharma was 20 when she debuted with this movie and Shah Rukh Khan, on the other hand, was 43.

 

As the years pass, we have started to accept the fact that dating an older woman is fine and many of our Bollywood actresses have also proved it by marrying younger men - for eg, Urmila Matondkar, who is 42, recently got married to 34 year Mohsin Akhtar. We, for one, hope the trend continues.