There is a massive explosion of ‘dying’ stars. The old and veteran actors of Bollywood, who were once relegated to playing mommies and daddies, these days are seen in very significant roles on the screens of multiplexes and streaming OTT content on TV in millions of homes world over. Strong storylines, experimental directors and exciting new platforms have come together in this new age of streaming to give audiences more meaningful and relatable cinema and the best part is that the faces of this new revolution are not young silicone beauties and nymphets but good old and extremely talented stars, as bold as gold. And as valuable.
Dimple Kapadia personifies the trend. From her teenage debut in 1973 to now, she’s been unstoppable for five decades. If headlining Bollywood classics like Bobby, Saagar, Rudaali, Ram Lakhan and Dil Chahta Hai wasn’t enough, the actor has effortlessly switched over to new-age stories. Kapadia’s extended run is so good that films and characters are now being made with her in mind. It may not have been planned but just last year the 65-year-old star had three back-to-back releases: blockbuster Pathaan, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, and Disney + Hotstar series Saas, Bahu aur Flamingo. In the first quarter of this year, Kapadia has played pivotal roles in Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and Netflix’s Murder Mubarak. Kapadia’s undeniable charisma and depth of experience landed her a role in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in 2020.
Kapadia is not the only one, good roles are being scripted for many senior actors who have come into the limelight with their 2.0 versions and refreshing avatars. Look at the flourishing careers of Shabana Azmi, Anil Kapoor, Neena Gupta, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Sushmita Sen, Raveena Tandon, Sanjay Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Annu Kapoor and many more. Bollywood’s oomph girl of the last century, Zeenat Aman, is set to make a comeback into films with Bun Tikki—bankrolled by fashion designer Manish Malhotra—alongside Azmi. Netizens have also heaped praises on Karisma Kapoor for her performance as a wacky and eccentric character in Murder Mubarak.
Amit Joshi, writer-director of Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya has an interesting take on what makes these new-old stars shine: “Senior actors like Dimple, Dharmendra … they have an aura. They are so experienced and when you give them a new story, they want to have fun playing their parts. In the earlier decades, they were restricted to playing hero and heroine, they had this responsibility of the film on their shoulders. Now they are not coming with any preconceived notion; they are coming with a very new, exciting energy. They want to give their best.” Kapadia agrees. Her response to work remains honest as ever. “I am grateful for strong, credible parts for me to sink my teeth into. Till they continue coming, I will be happy to play with them, otherwise I am happy to be chilling and watching the rest,” she says.
Azmi, no stranger to offbeat and challenging roles, is in her 50th year in the industry. Even a veteran like her is taken by surprise with the diverse roles coming to her at this stage. She has recently shot for four films around the same time—Steven Spielberg’s Halo (series now running in its second season), Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Ghoomer and What’s Love Got To Do With It. “Filmmakers have realised that content is king and they are upping their game,” she says.
So what’s changed? “Earlier there was this notion that audiences were interested only in a certain kind of film but audiences have always been open as long as the story is interesting,” says Azmi. She underlines her point with Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth, released in 1982. “Distributors would say it’s a powerful film but you must change the ending because the Indian audience would never accept that an Indian wife would walk away in spite of her husband apologising to her. Mahesh Bhatt and I dug our heels in and said the ending was the raison d’être of the film and we were going ahead, never mind what. The film was loved both by critics and the box office and won me a National Award,” says Azmi.
Most industry experts give credit to new-age writers and directors for the successful second innings of senior actors. Experimenting with the medium and a keen eye for casting senior actors in appropriate roles is what turns the trick now. Says trade analyst Girish Wankhede, “New tribes of writers and directors are so wonderfully using the talent of veterans. Homi Adajania has got a lot of senior actors—Dimple Kapadia, Karisma Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor together in Murder Mubarak.” Wankhede traces the old star phenomenon back to A Wednesday in 2008. “Neeraj Pandey started the trend of casting senior actors with A Wednesday where he had Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah as the protagonists,” he says.
The star is the focal point of the effort. “From Special 26 onwards Anupam has played a vital role in all his films. Directors like Neeraj believe that these characters make all the difference. Senior actors like Pankaj Tripathi or Annu Kapoor don’t play second fiddle but have strong roles. Juhi Chaturvedi so wonderfully used the talent of veterans like Amitabh Bachchan and Annu Kapoor in Piku, Gulabo Sitabo and Vicky Donor. So did Raaj Shandilya with Annu Kapoor’s character in Dream Girl,” he says.
As Kareena Kapoor Khan had told this writer around the release of Laal Singh Chaddha in 2022, “Today it is not about stars, it is about the content. If your film is good it will work. It is as simple as that. Today there are no stars, we are all actors, we are trying to figure out and do good work, and I think that is a good intention when we are all trying to do the best we can. There is no guarantee for anything, the guarantee is only for content. When you make a good film, or a good show, or a good film on OTT, people will watch it.” Wankhede appreciates the maturing of audiences too. “The credit also goes to the audience with new sensibilities where people don’t see a difference between an art house cinema or mainstream cinema but they come to cinema only to watch good content. Now the whole emphasis is on pure entertainment which could be with the aid of veterans or with the help of stars,” he says.
The explosion of OTT and fast evolution of multiple streaming platforms does stand out as the primary reason for the revival of careers of many senior actors. Sanjay Kapoor, who made a splash with Prem opposite Tabu in the mid 90s, went through a lean phase thereafter but his second innings has been quite remarkable. “The OTT platform has given me a second chance. I am getting important roles in every format.
With OTT I am working with some of the finest talent; I worked in Bloody Daddy with Ali Abbas Zaffar and I am currently working with Prakash Jha for a show called Laalbatti. My two recent films—Sriram Raghavan’s Merry Christmas and Murder Mubarak—happened only because of my previous projects on OTT. If I had not done Lust Stories and The Fame Game (both on Netflix) and Amazon Prime’s The Last Hours I don’t think I would have got Merry Christmas,” he says.
Senior actors are also shedding inhibitions and challenging stereotypes mid-stream. Reacting to Dharmendra’s lip-lock scene with Azmi in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, his former junior colleague Shatrughan Sinha says with a laugh, “Dharmendra is making the best of it.” In Maja Ma, Madhuri Dixit plays a closet lesbian and she says, “Digital platforms have freed storytellers from the trappings of the box office and have made it possible for actors to take up ‘bold’ subjects. Times were different in the 90s. With the advent of OTT, different stories can be told without having to think of the constraints of releasing them in theatres.”
Is content the real star then? Yes, says Wankhede. “In a film like Mimi we have Pankaj Tripathi who is the hero as well as the godfather as well as the main lead. It is because the role is written in such a way and we don’t need a star. Your content itself is the star. Badhaai Ho was purely Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao’s film and that is because of writing,” he says.
The trend has begun to pull in even those stars who maintained a studied distance. Shatrughan Sinha has finally succumbed to the temptation of a meaty role, that of a “zabardast political personality” and a “gentleman politician” in the forthcoming web series Gangs of Ghaziabad. “I lead the story, which revolves around my character. I was excited about the role and I finished the project before time. It was a great experience. I would reach sets before time unlike in the past as I was known to reach late for shoots. For me there is less excitement since I have done so many films but I found this different, my role is pro-people and that matches my image. People love me, there is a political image and I won’t do anything that would disappoint or hurt those who love me. At present the focus is on the coming elections; after that I may take up more projects in the future,” says Sinha.
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Kareena Kapoor, whose career is constantly evolving, had once said that she wants to emulate Meryl Streep who stayed at the top of the business for decades. “I’d like to do some heavy-duty performance-oriented films. I’m a Meryl Streep fan and I think age or marital status can never be a deterrent for an actor. The only thing that one needs is passion.”
And passion never gets old.
