Glenn Close, Michael Douglas won big at Golden Globes 2019; when will age empower Bollywood's senior stars?

Glenn Close beat popular favorite Lady Gaga to win Best Actress Film (Drama) at the Golden Globes this year.  At 71, Close has missed out on an Oscar wins six times , and her pained performance in The Wife stands out in a year where the Best Actress category is jam packed with memorable roles. In the Best Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series, Patricia Arquette won and swore like a teenager during her acceptance speech .

Michael Douglas at 74 beat Jim Carrey (Kidding) and Bill Hader (Barry) to win Best Actor in a TV series- Musical or Comedy.

As the Golden Globes clearly indicate, ageing has empowered Hollywood’s senior stars and actors to do better.

As streaming explodes, quality parts and substantial roles for senior actors proliferate. Olivia Colman, the new Queen of The Crown, Netflix’ super expensive and super popular series, won Best Actress in Musical or Comedy, is forty plus and at the prime of her career. Colman’s journey to mainstream Hollywood has been long, hard and patient. She has worked her way up with smaller parts in big films and TV shows, getting noticed with every role. That Colman will be seen in her biggest project yet with The Crown testifies to the fact that maturity and experience earned through a lifetime makes for good story telling onscreen.

The best example of TV’s life-changing impact is visible in Christine Baranksi’s work in The Good Fight and previously, The Good Wife. Baranski plays an ambitious lawyer, often battling her ethical calling and workplace politics to create an unforgettable precedent on TV. Debra Messing’s reprise of her role in Will and Grace, nominated at the Globes, has given this fine comedienne a chance to re-visit her career-best work for the youth today.

The best part of all these performances is the fact that they own their ageing process. In The Kominsky Method (that won the Best TV series - musical or comedy), Douglas and his close friend, his manager (delightful Alan Arkin) deal with an ageing prostate through an entire episode. This experiential tragi-comic show has Douglas mocking his changing physical form and persona as he gets older throughout.

Similarly, in The Wife, Close plays a character whose resentment piles up and manifests as she gets older and drives her decisions at a certain point in her life. Hugh Grant, amongst the hottest movie stars ever, has aged visibly and beautifully in A Very English Scandal, playing a nasty, wily politician without inhibitions.

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Compare this to the process of ageing in Hindi or Indian cinema, and it doesn’t take much thinking as to why audiences aren’t flocking to watch senior stars. Often, they don’t seem comfortable getting old or playing older characters. Films still tend to glorify or exemplify their larger than life images. Ageing, with its vulnerabilities and failings, is muted in most films that feature our stars. Most being the operative word.

Mr Bachchan has delivered entertaining performances, along with Rishi Kapoor in quite a few films (102 Not Out, TE3N, Pink, Mulk among others). In Pink, the depressive nature of his character adds value to the story. But in the part of an ace army general who becomes a sea faring freedom fighter of sorts, he looked plain uncomfortable in Thugs of Hindostan. His armor looked claustrophobic and bulky, and the action visibly seemed to take a physical toll. In the same film, Aamir Khan, who set a benchmark in ageing finely with Dangal , has taken a misstep with the character of Firangi Malla. The film, with bells and whistles of a casting coup, focuses on highlighting their superstardom and works around this public image. That’s where it begins to fail completely.

In a similar situation, Zero fails to do justice to Shah Rukh Khan the actor at all levels. Whether one diminishes his height, or alters his physicality, this detail in itself, is not sufficient to hold up a shallow story. The film offers very little agency to its female leads, reflecting the general impression around Khan’s lover boy image. No woman can resist but fall to this man’s charms. Clichéd moves and arm motions aside, Shah Rukh Khan’s irresistible charms are not a given anymore.

Had Zero kept in mind the age factor and written a mature love story around a 50 plus man and his scientist girlfriend in her thirties, it would have come across as a lot more credible film.

Typically, film trade would counter argue that films boasting of superstars, ageing or not, still command over 100 crores in business, thereby making them ‘viable’. At a time when international content is just a click away on all screens, this argument doesn’t hold water. An actor is now measured by the quality of performance by an impatient, and spoilt audience.

A smart actor who has awoken to this trend is Akshay Kumar - be it Gold, Padman or 2.0, he has decided to let go of his hero image and play middle-aged characters. His acting still seems to be evolving, but he isn’t counting on his commercial pull alone. Saif Ali Khan, the thinking man’s Hindi film hero, has certainly picked up on the ageing factor well, as his body of work continues to grow and impress. So has Anil Kapoor.

Not choosing to play roles that make one look old or aged is also common among leading women in Hindi cinema. Kajol looked luminous in Helicopter Eela, with focus on making her look just right even if her onscreen child is going to college. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, after a loud Sarabjit, chose to become a pop star, vacuous to the point of annoying, in Fanney Khan. Glamour still remained central to her part. However, memorable films are being written for those who have let go of their star image and looks, like Vidya Balan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Tabu (Tumhaari Sulu, Andhadhun ).

When an actor chooses to let go of inhibitions onscreen, writers and directors also find good stories and engaging ideas to create around them.

As both Michael Douglas and Glenn Close stated at the Golden Globes, they’ve been around for 45 years in Hollywood. They continue to play leading roles in suitable stories. They experiment. The time to change and age well is now.