Page 52 - Seniors Today - May21 Issue

Once Upon A Time | Films

The Good, the Bad

and the Senior

Beyond the cliché of the older person, Hindi films have given us roles of
senior citizens playing full-fledged characters, writes Deepa Gahlot

In Hindi movies, seniors are seen mainly
as attached to families, and seldom as
individuals by themselves, so they tend
to be stuck in the rut of parents suffering
the neglect of their selfish kids. Men still
have it better, because audiences are
willing to watch older male stars—Amitabh
Bachchan still has no dearth of roles— but
women mostly get to play the nasty or last roles before she passed away, the
downtrodden mother-in-law. Lalita Pawar, actress labelled tragedy queen, plays an
Shashikala and Bindu in the later years of old woman, who faces the death of her
their careers specialised in playing these husband and betrayal by family, to move
characters. into a slum and become Nani Ma to a bunch
So, here’s a list of ten films, in which of restless boys and violent young men
an elderly character has a lead part (not (Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Danny
growing old as part of the plot, there are Denzongpa early in their careers)
plenty of those) and has more to do than
weep with misery. Victoria No.203 (1972): In this riotous
action-comedy, Ashok Kumar and Pran
Mere Apne (1971): In Gulzar’s debut play two lovable old rogues, Raja and Rana,
as director, and one of Meena Kumari’s just released from prison, promising to go

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