The Sugar Daddy Phenomenon
iView Author: Roshni Mulchandani (California, USA) Email: Witheld
The Sugar Daddy Phenomenon
By urban classification, a “Sugar Daddy,” is an older man who romances women generations younger to him in return for friendship or intimacy. While the definition is more applicable to prominent page three regulars, a more twisted version has been incorporated into modern day Hindi cinema. It has become a ‘real’ and ‘reel’ life reality which has become somewhat of a fad amongst the industry-walas. Actors are more than delighted when they are paired with actresses who are, in some cases generation ages junior to them. This was previously considered the norm in Indian cinema simply because debutant actresses were only required to be youthful. If we put a numerical figure to it, a great majority of actresses were merely in their teens when they debuted with actors who were in their late twenties. The late Nutan was all of 14 when she made her first appearance as a leading actress opposite Motilal who was 26 years of age. The older-actor-younger-actress trend has been passed down for generations and is an accepted factoid. However, in more recent times, it seems that the age gap has been widening and broadening to the extent that the actors can easily be considered…Sugar Daddies!
Partakers of the phenomenon range from the veterans to the current reigners. Big Bachchan himself had no qualms in romancing Tabu in Cheeni Kum which incidentally depicted the story of a couple in love who had a whopping 30-year age difference. Later on, Bachchan went on to create waves and cause critics to pen volumes in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd. You remember the gist. Sixteen-year old Jiah Khan danced and pranced around the 65-year-old actor before the duo finally romanced. Without doing too much math, clearly the age difference is light years apart, making the Big B, not only king of Hindi cinema but the “Sugar Daddy King!”
Current kings and counterparts too have realized that “Yehi hai right choice baby!” Self proclaimed Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan too is a member of the Sugar Daddy Club. SRK has romanced many actresses in his day but recently his heroines seem to be getting a lot more youthful and taller in some cases too. If he was paired opposite the lofty Deepika Padukone in Om Shanti Om, he went ahead and matched steps with Anushka Sharma in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi a year later. Cumulatively, the girls have an average age of 20 while SRK is in his forties. Need we say more? Salman Khan has always enjoyed the company of adolescent women on the celluloid and in his personal life. His cluster of juvenile muses include Sneha Ullal, Katrina Kaif and Sonam Kapoor. Sallu Miyan, who has aged ultra gracefully, is in his late forties and the mentioned actresses all in the early twenties age bracket. Aamir Khan hopped on the bandwagon last year when he and youngin’ Asin Thottumkal got together to create sparks on the big screen in the action-love story Ghajini. While Asin was definitely used to costarring with older actors down south, this was the first time that ace actor Aamir Khan had worked with an actress so much his subordinate. Singer and Actor, if you choose to call him one, Himesh Reshammiya has only romanced minor actresses in the form of one Hansika Motwani and a Shweta Kumar. A multitude of mature heroes; a collection of budding heroines and age differences in vast magnitudes. Question is: Why are actors choosing this sweeter (and younger) option?
The heroes of the Hindi film industry are definitely aging like fine wine. None of the mentioned actors appear their age which is possibly why their pairing with these unripe heroines have never actually looked awkward on screen. Perhaps the youthful actresses are working as “Fountains of Youth” for the actors who now feel a lot younger at heart too. While physically they seem to getting fitter, it seems that their souls too are getting a few Botox shots in the form of promising heroines to slow down the aging process.
Perhaps this phenomenon is simply a reply to the older women of the industry who have “been there and done that.” Akshaye Khanna can definitely be considered “Hero No. 1” amongst the veteran actresses. He has romanced Madhuri Dixit and Dimple Kapadia respectively. Before him, Akshay Kumar got down with legendary Rekha in some spicy scenes which caused many a jaw to drop. In more recent times, sultry Bipasha Basu went ahead and locked lips with youngster Ranbir Kapoor. She will also be seen with one-movie-old Neil Nitin Mukesh later this year. If the industry women have mastered the art, how can the men be far behind?
There are also a whole range of minor explanations for the new trend. The likes of Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman do manage to bring in massive crowds and bagfuls of moolah at the box office. Women of all ages swoon at the feet of the actors and as they try to be more experimental, they are seeing immense success even as the age of their leading ladies decreases. Mature actresses realize that the industry is predominantly dominated by men and their “shelf-life” is limited to X years. They also know that after a certain age, they need to head towards “Parallel Films Town” or “Supporting Actress Road.” Simultaneously, a major influx of blooming actresses continually knocks on the industry’s door and the older actors have quite honestly, become an effective welcoming committee to the girls. So what about younger heroes you ask. Well, for the male newcomers, who do not have know any big guns in the industry, it is almost too competitive. Hence, the budding lads are stuck waiting while potential actresses jump the line. Conclusively, this could simply be a phase in Indian cinema, which like all other fads in the industry will eventually come to its end. The current six-pack craze was preceded by almost all movies featuring a song in the snowy mountains of Switzerland. Eventually, an actor will make the pot belly hot and the rest will follow. As for the snow covered Swiss Alps, producers now realize that the hill stations in India are sufficient and a lot more cost effective.
The Sugar Daddy’s of the Hindi film fraternity show no signs of receiving any lifetime awards in the near future. One does wonder on the contrary, if they will collect any Jodi No. 1 awards with their budding fresh heroines instead. In the meantime, what else can we say to these established heroes except…Lage Raho Sugar Daddy’s!
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
You didn’t need to do the maths for Cheeni Kum and Nishabd, ‘coz the ads mentioned that age gap explicitly.
We have a cougar appreciation clique here at PFC. Just thought I’d throw it out there.
@Mitch : really?? never heard of tat. so, u r part of tat elite coterie
That might have taken some research or a deep thought on these guys, anyways a good writeup!! Was looking out for something different to read on PFC and got it…
PS: Cheeni Kum released after Nishabd, I know this coz Ive seen them both in the first week of release, I am a BigB fan
. BigB’s performance in Nishabd just awed me!!
Yep entry is strictly by invitation only.