Mainstream Bollywood embraces the imperfect look

"Roop tera mastana" seems to be old school now. Bollywood, which once exponentially spotlighted well-chiselled bodies in men and perfectly fair belles in cinema, has taken to celebrating imperfections and age on the mainstream screen. Moving away from classic fairytale-ish stories, Bollywood, over the past half a decade or so, seems to have undergone a transition of sorts, as cinephiles lap up authenticity, ageism and flawed off-track characters more than make-belief. One can not go wrong in crediting actor Ayushmann Khurrana to a large extent for this. He feels that Bollywood is now a place where colour, appearance and age does not matter anymore. "We have been used to manicured perfect heroes over the years. And for a common man it is difficult to achieve that. Maybe fighting with 10 goons is not easy and not practical at the same time or maybe having those six-pack abs for somebody who is doing a nine-to-five job and is a lower-middle class person struggling to make a living. You don't expect that person to have a six-pack. It is important instil confidence in the masses otherwise they will get complexes seeing these actors on screen," Ayushmann told IANS. "And probably somebody had to do that..." The actor, who will be seen playing a young man suffering from premature balding in his forthcoming film "Bala", says he aspires to give confidence to the "aam aadmi" through his films. "It's important to give that confidence to the common man and that's what I aspire to do. Because imperfections are beautiful. Nobody is perfect and you always have that imperfections. (It) could be in personal life or maybe in your body, or in life in general," he said. Actress Bhumi Pednekar, who will be seen playing a dusky girl in "Bala", has always managed to experiment with her roles. She played an overweight woman named Sandhya in "Dum Laga Ke Haisha", for which she gained over 30 kilos. Recently, she underwent a complex prosthetic process for her role of one of India's two oldest sharpshooters in "Saand Ki Aankh". Actress Yami Gautam, too, feels the industry is opening up. "'Vicky Donor' was one of those few films which kind of paved the way for the transition in new age cinema, where films have always been... It's a very aspiration profession and job. I remember we used to feel you aspire to look like them' who you watch on screen and be like 'Can my hair fly like that' or 'can my kajal be like that' and 'can my skin be like that'? It has a very aspirational value," Yami told IANS. Yami feels that the reason that imperfect characters are paving their way into to the audience's hearts is because of issues are now being openly discussed in our mainstream films. "The reason that these films are working in the heartland is because you have put the common man on screen, (and are) literally talking about issues that they perhaps talk about behind closed doors. It is interesting and I am glad. I have not heard someone being cast or being rejected on the basis of colour or appearance," she added. But is age still a detrimental factor for an actor's career in Bollywood? Veteran actor Boman Irani, who took the bold step of doing a film dealing with the topic of a man falling in love and getting married at the age of 45 in "Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi", says age does not matter anymore. "It (age) is not detrimental to an actor's career. I think there is a right time in everyone's life to do the right thing. I am never unhappy that I took my time. I am almost 60 (and) I am now a student learning to be a screenwriter. Who made the rule that you can't learn something new at the age of 60? There are no rules and timelines for dreams and wishes," Boman told IANS. Actor Bobby Deol, 50, who is in his "new innings" right now, too, does not feel age is a barrier. "Age is just a number and I think of a lot of actors who have survived the delimitation of age. I think I am very blessed to have the energy and the focus right now in life to keep working as long as I can," he told IANS. As musician John Legend said in the song "All of me" that "love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections", Bollywood finally seems to be taking the line seriously and is celebrating imperfections and age perfectly on screen. IANS