Age no bar

Go ahead, make your date. In Bewafaa and Tashan Anil Kapoor wants to marry Kareena Kapoor.

And in Sunday 20-something Ayesha Takia paired up with the pushing-40 Ajay Devgan for some laughs. At least Ajay and Ayesha paired for a parody.

But what about the 50-plus Anil Kapoor with the 26-year old Kareena Kapoor in Bewafaa ? There was a justification for this oddball coupling. She was the second-wife, somewhat like Kamal Haasan’s under-age bride Vasundhara Das in the awesomely underrated Hey Ram. Shockingly Kamalji offered the child-bride’s role to his dear friend Randhir Kapoor’s daughter Kareena who was at that time barely 20.

In South it’s common practice for matinee idols to pair themselves with actresses half their age. Now when I hear the 59-year old legend Rajnikanth is going to be paired with our own mythic Aishwarya Rai, I can’t suppress my giggles.

Rajni Sir has a daughter named Aishwarya. He doesn’t have a daughter named Sriya Saran, though. The talented 26-year old was the stalwart’s heroine in his last blockbuster. They weren’t alone. Remember Salman Khan with the teenage Ash looklike in Lucky? Just a few months ago Shah Rukh Khan was seen serenading Deepika Padukone. Though the self-deprecating superstar kept making media jokes about his ‘Uncle’ status in his young heroine’s life, the age difference between SRK and Deepika wasn’t the least noticeable. That was our eternally-young Raj from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge courting the 21-year old debutant ‘Dreamy’ girl at 41.

I remember decades ago how ridiculous the great Raj Kapoor looked at 44 romancing the 16-year old debutant the Dream Girl Hema Malini in Sapnon Ka Saudagar . That’s because Raj Saab wasn’t eternally-young like SRK. Also, the Showman never went to the gym. Strangely all of Mr Bachchan’s leading ladies in his heydays were choronolgically compatible with him until at 60-plus directors wrote Black, Cheeni Kum and Nishabd for him. Big B made the power of aging wisdom the criteria for selection.

We’re living in a world where age differences no longer defines human relationships. A lot of eyebrows were raised, and then casually lowered, when our rebellious Riya Sen was seen in social places with the 60-plus litterateur Salman Rushdie. What bothered me about that friendship wasn’t the age but the intellectual disparity.

Sexy Sam on screen serenading blonde call-girls in Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna or Sexy Sallu seeking solace in the Sens of show-world...women just can’t get enough of those wrinkles.