Lakshmi Manchu, who has been cast opposite actors five and seven years younger to her, shared her view on ageism in the industry.
Lakshmi Manchu, who is the daughter of veteran actor Mohan Babu, has had an interesting journey in the movies. Lakshmi, who secretly joined Hollywood to make her dream of becoming an actor come true, is today one of the fewest actresses in Indian cinema who plays the lead role opposite younger actors, unlike majority of the films where a 50-year-old hero romances someone in their 20s.
Lakshmi was cast opposite Aadhi Pinisetty, an actor 5 years younger to her, in the 2013 film Gundello Godari, which was a hit at the box office. In the 2015 movie Dongaata, she was cast opposite Adivi Sesh, an actor who is 7 years younger to her.
However, this is a very rare practice in Indian cinema. Sharing her view on the same, Lakshmi Manchu told indianexpress.com, “It’s a patriarchal society. The boys are the one spending more to get out there. You are playing to the fantasy I think. We as women, if we like one hero, for the rest of our life, we are with that one hero (as a fan). But, our boys are not like that. Whoever is the hottest heroine, is their new favourite. So I think it is about our (women) mentality of always being one hero’s fan… why weren’t you other hero’s fan? Even this is really difficult for women to think if you really think about it. That’s just my take on it.”
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The problem of ageism has been there in the film industry since the beginning. Several actresses over the years have expressed their displeasure in being a victim of ageism. Actors like Shefali Shah have played the role of a mother to Akshay Kumar at the age of 28 in the film Waqt: The Race Against Time. Akshay was 32 at that time.
Meanwhile, young stars like Manushi Chhillar said age is not an issue for them when they are cast against superstars like Akshay Kumar. In an interview with Times Now, Manushi said, “Akshay Kumar is a superstar, and I want to work with him. For me, it doesn’t matter what his age is. I had fun working with him.”
Apart from the age gap between the lead actors, there have also been cases where actresses are not given age-appropriate roles. In 2019, there was a massive outrage when Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar were roped in to play older roles. Neena Gupta had reacted to the casting and said, “I was just thinking about this hamari umar ke role toh kamsekam humse kara lo.”