“20 year old heroines for 60 year old stars!”- Rima Kallingal’s statement turns controversial

Recently, women from the Malayalam film industry got to together to form a new association- Women In Cinema Collective. It is the first of it’s kind in the country and the members have been getting a lot of appreciation for showing the right way forward.

Women In Cinema Collective (WCC) comprises of female technicians and artistes from the Malayalam film industry. Popular among them are Anjali Menon, Manju Warrier, Beena Paul, Parvathy Thiruvoth, Vidhu Vincent, Rima Kallingal and Sajitha Madathil. 

Recently, actor Prithviraj’s wife and journalist Supriya Menon had written an article about the WCC in Huffington Post. Members of the WCC including Revathy, Beena Paul, Parvathy and Manju Warrier expressed their views on the need for such an organization in film industry.

Actress Rima Kallingal also opened up about her view points but that apparently has turned controversial. She pointed out the trend of aged male actors working with young female actors. Rima is quoted saying, “Twenty-year-olds getting cast as heroines against 60-year-old men and 50-year-old women being cast as mothers of 60-year-old-men! The ageism is in your face when it comes to women.”

This statement from her has not gone down well with a section of social media users. They believe that even today, mainstream cinema survives because of stardom. The fact of the matter is fans are still not be able to accept their matinee idols romancing around with aged woman.

Majority of the audience love to see the heroes as young and handsome men. This is deeply rooted in the minds of the audience and hence filmmakers will have to compromise to please them. But of late, we can see a positive change as stars are willing to play  aged roles, thanks to the uber cool salt n pepper look.