From Dia Mirza to Neena Gupta, female actors in Bollywood have spoken about being typecasted and only being offered roles of ‘mothers’ after a certain age. This statement rings especially true for films where female actors played mother to much younger men, or actors who were almost the same age as them.
1. Nargis in ‘Mother India’
In this iconic film, Nargis was merely 28-years-old, the same age as the actors who played her sons – Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar.
2. Reema Lagoo in ‘Vaastav’
This blockbuster film holds a special place in Indian cinema. However, Reema Lagoo 41-years-old when she played the mother of 40-year-old Sanjay Dutt.
3. Shefali Shah in ‘Waqt: The Race Against Time’
In this film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar, Shefali Shah was 33-years-old. However, she played the role of Amitabh’s wife and Akshay’s mother, who was 38 when the movie released.
4. Sheeba Chaddha in ‘Zero’
When this box-office failure was being shot, the lead actor, Shah Rukh Khan was 53-years-old and the woman who plays the role of his mother, Sheeba Chaddha was 46. How was this okay?
5. Rohini Hattangadi in ‘Agneepath’
In the 1990 OG Angeepath, Rohini played the role of Amitabh Bachchan’s ageing mother. While she was 35 when the movie came out, Amitabh was 48. Let that sink in.
6. Sonali Kulkarni in ‘Bharat’
The latest addition to this list, 44-year-old Sonali Kulkarni played the mother to 53-year-old Salman Khan in his film Bharat. Not to mention that the leading lady of Bharat was Katrina Kaif, who was 35 at the time.
7. Supriya Karnik in ‘Yaadein’
Supriya Karnik was just 26 when the movie came out, and yet she played Hrithik Roshan’s mother in it. Hrithik himself was 27 during the release of the film. To top it off, she played the wife of 48-year-old Anang Desai!
8. Anushka Shetty in ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’
This 2017 film had Anushka Shetty, who was 36-year-old at the time play the role of Prabhas’ mother in the film after playing his wife in the previous Baahubali instalment. Prabhas was 38 during the release of this epic.
Which one surprised you the most?