Old seems to be truly hitting gold these days in Bollywood – the Indian film industry. Two of the most talked about and highly paid actors in the Indian film industry at present are about 60 years of age. The first of the two is Amitabh Bachchan, who I believe is no need of introduction. In two of his recent movies, he has romanced a sixteen-year-old girl and a thirty four year old woman. It must definitely take a lot of effort for a sixty-year-old man to sing and dance around trees with a sixteen year old and manage to carry it off gracefully.
The other grand old man of Indian cinema is Rajnikanth who is 58 years of age and has a great fan following in India, especially South India. In a recent Tamil film – “Sivaji-The Boss” - he has played a 30 something action hero. It is rumored that he has become the highest paid actor in India with this film. The film was released in many countries across the world, and a report here said that the tickets for the weekend shows in the US were booked 10 days in advance. I find that hard to believe, but, as they say, it was in the papers.
And these are not the only two old actors in the industry. It seems like most of the mature and serious roles end up in the older actor’s kitty. This seems to be true not only for Bollywood, but Hollywood too. Most of the memorable roles are those that were played by actors who have had considerable experience in the industry. The reason could either lie in the fact that “experience does matter” or that the producers are scared to invest in newer actors, especially when the story is different from the regular run of the mill stuff.
What do you think?
The other grand old man of Indian cinema is Rajnikanth who is 58 years of age and has a great fan following in India, especially South India. In a recent Tamil film – “Sivaji-The Boss” - he has played a 30 something action hero. It is rumored that he has become the highest paid actor in India with this film. The film was released in many countries across the world, and a report here said that the tickets for the weekend shows in the US were booked 10 days in advance. I find that hard to believe, but, as they say, it was in the papers.
And these are not the only two old actors in the industry. It seems like most of the mature and serious roles end up in the older actor’s kitty. This seems to be true not only for Bollywood, but Hollywood too. Most of the memorable roles are those that were played by actors who have had considerable experience in the industry. The reason could either lie in the fact that “experience does matter” or that the producers are scared to invest in newer actors, especially when the story is different from the regular run of the mill stuff.
What do you think?
1 comment:
well when there isn't any particular young hot streak, old gold is definitely what we would want to be falling back on
we remember the nostalgia & with experience comes the knowledge that old will indeed be at least good most of the time in the movies
60-year old with a 16 eh?
(Still in all honesty I have yet to watch a single complete Bollywood flick though I know of a few friends who are very much into them. Maybe I will one day.)
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