60 going on 20!

Chiranjeevi certainly surprised his fans and shocked many when the poster of his upcoming film was released. After all, when a 60-something star, looks and acts like someone way below his age, it is bound to take people by surprise.

Then you have Balakrishna who plays the role of the Satavahana ruler Satkarni, who if you go by history passed away at a young age. Actors, well past their prime, are eager to join Gen Next and make a comeback. But the bigger question here is, why can’t these actors simply grow up and age with grace?

While on one hand, it’s indeed impressive to note how the likes of actors Nagarjuna and Venkatesh have transited to choosing roles either suiting their age, or if it is that of a younger person, with a sense of maturity; we have, a Balakrishna who’s still grappling with younger roles, and Chiranjeevi, who’s making a comeback with Khaidi No. 150.

“It’s simple logic. If you want a love story to be weaved in, the hero has to look young! You can’t have an old guy romancing a young girl. It would be really odd. And that’s why the use of make-up and of course, graphics, to help in the process,” shares a director, adding, “It’s a commercial film and the audience does not mind it. They come to watch the stars in action, and feel disappointed if he looks old.  We tend to play to the gallery.”

Another director points out, “I know it’s awkward that an actor, who wears shades to cover his wrinkles, a wig to mask his bald pate, make-up to hide the flaws, is romancing a pretty, young actress, who must have grown up watching his movies! But  the audience doesn’t mind it and it’s nothing new. This has been happening since the times of ANR and NTR, hasn’t it?”

The other side to this story is that irrespective of what the actor thinks or says, there is always a group of people who convince him to choose such roles. And at that point, words like “image”, and “prestige” crop in.

“A prestigious film. A highly-publicised comeback. A lot of money at stake. And people around the hero keep boosting his ego about how he is the demigod who can never age! He tends to believe it and wants to continue. If you talk about the present crop of actors, let me assure you, this is going to be a cycle! Once the present crop of young actors grow old, we are going to see this trend again.

“The need to make an actor look young is to appease the masses mostly. As the hero does things which the audience themselves cannot do, it gives them a high,” reveals a film distributor, talking about the audience.

A lot of effort also goes into the look, apparently. “I don’t know why the criticism. Irrespective of what their age in real life is, in the story world, they are just 30 or 35... isn’t that what being an actor is all about?” questions a writer.

We quiz him on what his thoughts are about Balakrishna, who is playing an erstwhile Satavahana ruler in Gautamiputra Satakarni and is being made to look young, and megastar Chiranjeevi, who seems to be attempting to look more than a decade younger than he actually is.

“See, they are putting in a lot of effort. They go on diets to suit the role. If you noticed Chiranjeevi, especially, during the shoot of the film, whenever you spotted him, he did seem fit. How much can you hide with graphics and makeup?”

However, fingers should also be pointed to the fact that unlike other cine industries, Tollywood lacks good writers. “Well, who’s being given a chance? The actors are mostly hunting for ‘top directors’ to helm their films. Most of them have a set theme for stories and keep rehashing the same concepts. The actors themselves are scared to grow up and be labelled old. We really need a sense of acceptance more than anything else. In other industries, you can see the likes of Salman Khan, Mohanlal, Aamir Khan et al moving forward with the time. We don’t need just good writers but also actors who are willing to go beyond their comfort zone,” reflects a young budding writer-director, whose script has been rejected by one of the actors.

‘Can’t compare our stars to those in Bollywood’
I think their (Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna) choice of roles is a result of the kind of superstardom they enjoy. Their large body of work spanning   such a long period of time has obviously appeased to the audience across many age groups.

Pawan Kalyan is probably one star who has been able to achieve something similar. We need to understand that the audience is changing. The dynamics of stardom are different today and that is resulting in the kind of roles the present day stars choose and how they look.

A few years down the line, I’m sure we are going to see something very different. We can’t compare our work to Bollywood because their audiences are a huge variety, and the demographics are very different. We have to give it to both the stars as they have visibly put in a lot of effort in terms of how they look.
— Nandini Reddy, director