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Balakrishna and female actors' unusual age gap; A normalised concept of old actors romancing young heroines
If you have seen Balakrishna's filmography, you would realise he gets a new young age heroine paired opposite him in every film. The normalised concept of romance.
Love is love irrespective of caste, gender, age, or anything. Well, nobody has the right to judge. But isn't it weird to watch someone older romance a younger girl? I mean, on screen, actors like Nandamuri Balakrishna, who is literally 63 years old, get to romance younger heroines who are more than half his age. And not just him, it's common practice in the film industry, bigger superstars are always paired up with a younger actress. But we wonder why is this not vice versa. Why is it that veteran actresses like Jayasudha, Ramya Krishnan and others, who once shined as lead actresses are doing mother roles on screen, whereas Balakrishna gets to be the main lead and romance heroines of every generation? Why is the insane age gap between heroines and male actors normalized?
Balakrishna and female actors' unusual age gap
If you have seen Balakrishna's filmography, you would realize he gets a new young-age heroine paired opposite him in every film. Be it Pragya Jaiswal in Akhanda, Shruti Haasan in Veera Simha Reddy, or Sreeleela in his upcoming film Bhagavanth Kesari. Sreeleela is 22 years old and she will be seen opposite the actor in the film. And what would this make anyone feel? Absolutely nothing! Yes, the older-in-age hero and young heroine concept is so normalized that nobody feels odd or absurd about it.
And this practice is not just common in Telugu movies, the film industry has some weird obsession to place a young actresses opposite men in their 50s and 60s and this includes the list of Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, Salman Khan, Mammootty and many others. We have seen this in Mollywood, Bollywood, and Kollywood as well. And these unusual pairings get audiences' acceptance. Movies are for entertainment. It's well understood and female actresses bring glamour to the screen, which is fine. But why is it that the actress does everything; dance, romance, and great performance too but only the male lead gets applauded? They only get to answer questions like 'How is it working with Balakrishna?' when she literally does all the work.
Normalization of romancing younger actresses in movies
This also explains the heroine’s place in the patriarchal order in the film industry. Nobody talks about the craft of female actors or the method behind the madness. And in some movies, the filmmakers write female actresses in a way that they just want them to romance, nothing more, nothing less. Blush when the hero flirts, dance with him and wear glamorous clothes. For example, in Gopichand Malineni's directorial Veera Simha Reddy, Shruti Haasan is the love interest of Balakrishna. Yes, only a love interest who does good dances with him in the songs. What's more funny is that actress Honey Rose, who is 31 years old, played the role of Balakrishna's mother in the film. Why can’t we have more of such amazing and appropriate casting?
The misogyny and sexism placed here are clearly visible. We are in 2022, and so much has progressed, yet such movies show the rooted misogyny prevalent that female actors come with an expiry date while male actors are ageless and beyond perfect.
Balakrishna and Boyapati Srinu's Akhanda became one of the biggest hits in Telugu cinema. Pragya Jaiswal was placed opposite Balakrishna, playing the 'powerful role of IAS', only to fall in love and say cringe dialogue whereas he doesn't even show interest in her. Where is this powerful and how do filmmakers justify these and make it a blockbuster at the box office? But not entirely their fault as well, female actors are also to be blamed, the ones who accept such prejudices and sexism because it's not easy to survive in the film industry. Every Friday, a new heroine comes and can easily get replaced, unlike the male counterparts who have been ruling for years.
The next pairing- 67 years Balakrishna opposite 22 years Sreeleela
The Nandamuri actor entered the film industry as a child artist at the age of 14 with the film Tatamma Kala. In 1984, he made his debut with Sahasame Jeevitham and has been working ever since then. Balakrishna has appeared in more than 100 Telugu films over 40 years. And the younger heroine casting has been going on for years. However, it wasn't familiar back then because heroes and heroines made their debut at a very young age. The age gap was not very eye-opening.
The 67-year-old actor has been paired with actresses much younger in his career. The leading ladies in his films rarely cross the 30s-year mark. Sonal Chauhan, Radhika Apte, and Nayanthara were all in their early 30s when they shared the screen with him, while he was in his late 50s. Sreeleela is currently the most popular and busy actress with almost 7-10 movies in her kitty and Balakrishna's Bhagavanth Kesari is one among them. This movie will bring the unusual pairing of an old actor and a young heroine again, and we have to see what it brings this time.
What's to be noted is that whenever an older female actor is paired with a younger male actor - the age difference itself becomes the plot point of the film and is treated as something 'unusual'. The system of new joinee in every field is common but to place them opposite older male counterparts is not something audiences would want to watch in the 22nd century.
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