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.