Age no bar for Bollywood’s heroines

In youth-obsessed Bollywood, where the popularity of an actress depends not just on talent but also on age and marital status, leading ladies in their 30s are now ensuring that the spotlight stays on them.

“I have entered a new phase in and career and hope to conquer newer heights in the coming years,” says 30-year-old Kareena Kapoor, who made ‘Size zero’ fashionable in a country known for its voluptuous actresses.

Most actresses today are reinventing themselves in the fourth decade of their lives. “Age is just a number,” says 31-year-old Bipasha Basu. “My worth as an actress cannot be based on how young or old I am. In fact, women in their 30s are more poised and beautiful, thanks to increasing awareness about health.”

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who recently turned 37, is considered to be one of the top film heroines in the country. She is also a known face on the international circuit because of her Hollywood projects and promotional deals with global brands. “If producers want to give me a miss because of my age, it would be their loss since I
am a far better actress today than I was 10 years ago,”
she says.

Industry watchers point out that today’s actresses don’t fade into oblivion after marriage or motherhood. Mother-of-two Kajol agrees that she has the best of both worlds. “My family is my priority. And I can choose to stop work or go back any time I want,” she says.

“The roles I am getting these days are meatier than the ones I used to get earlier.”

Juhi Chawla, who slipped effortlessly into strong character roles in offbeat as well as mainstream films after her children were born, says, “This is an exciting time to be in Hindi cinema. Earlier, there were hardly any good roles for women over 40.
But today, there are a lot of options.”

There is a new realisation that those no longer in the limelight have, in fact, consciously opted to stay away. “For how long can one play only glamorous roles? I want to do roles with substance,” says Preity Zinta.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who has cast Tabu, Konkona Sen Sharma and Bipasha Basu in strong roles, says, “Leading ladies in their 30s have nothing left to prove. They have their oeuvre to speak for them. It is the younger actresses who have to face serious competition from them.”