I read a hilarious review about new tamil movie called 'Singam II'. You can read it here. It got me thinking about action heroes. When I think about action heroes, the first name that comes to my mind is, our own, one and only Superstar Rajnikanth. He is the evergreen action hero. He has not aged a day beyond 35 in his movies. Even now people are waiting to see him come on screen like a warrior. Even Amitabh Bacchan has had to accept a few roles where he looks his age, I think these are his roles in the movies, 'Black' or 'Chini Kum'. Amitabh atleast has accepted that he is older than 50. But with Rajnikanth, there is no way he will be seen on screen as a man older than 35.
In Hollywood too you can see such evergreen heroes in movies like 'Indiana Jones' and 'Mission Impossible'. Tom Cruise, Harrisson Ford, George Clooney. Tom Cruise still manages to look like he did when he was in his thirties but the other two have played a few roles where they show their age, like in 'Descendants' and 'Six days, Seven nights'. Jackie Chan is the internationally famous action hero who never ages.
In the case of Tamil movies, you can see that many actors try to follow the footsteps of Superstar and try to remain evergreen heroes. Thankfully, the audience is a little more selective these days. Popular actors like Suriya, Vijay and Vikram are struggling to remain at the top. Kamalhassan has appeared as a father in few movies like 'Mahanadhi' and 'Avvai Shanmugi'. In the Hindi filmworld too Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan act in repetitive roles of angry young men or righteous cops or supermen. According to me, once an actor starts getting roles of the 'action hero' he is surely getting old or he has hit the magic age of 35. That is the reason why all the directors try and cast him in roles that don't make him look any older than 30.
My only problem is that it is very difficult to imagine Shahrukh Khan or Amir Khan or Vijay or Suriya as a college student. Its difficult to see them act silly and act like they are lovestruck teenagers.The older the hero, the younger the actress who is paired with him. Recently the movie, 'Billa II", a typical action movie, was made with the lead actor Ajith showing off his grey hair. That was the only redeeming feature of the movie.
What I am trying to say is that it is a pity that these talented actors who have potrayed sensitive roles in their younger days very rarely get the chance to play their real age on screen after a point of time.Any hero who plays the role of a father or a middle aged man gets cast as a character actor and is very rarely considered a 'rising star' in Indian movies.
It is unfortunate that Indian movies rarely show heroes as fathers and also as strong and powerful men. People say that Indian movies commodotise women and they are never given equal importance as men. I think that films in India commodotise men too. We do not have enough directors and actors who are ready to go out of the mould and experiment with different roles for men. Why have actors, when all you need is young, beautiful, nimble footed dancers. 'Action' sequences are also choreographed movements which are strategically placed to entertain and attract the audience attention.
In Hollywood too you can see such evergreen heroes in movies like 'Indiana Jones' and 'Mission Impossible'. Tom Cruise, Harrisson Ford, George Clooney. Tom Cruise still manages to look like he did when he was in his thirties but the other two have played a few roles where they show their age, like in 'Descendants' and 'Six days, Seven nights'. Jackie Chan is the internationally famous action hero who never ages.
In the case of Tamil movies, you can see that many actors try to follow the footsteps of Superstar and try to remain evergreen heroes. Thankfully, the audience is a little more selective these days. Popular actors like Suriya, Vijay and Vikram are struggling to remain at the top. Kamalhassan has appeared as a father in few movies like 'Mahanadhi' and 'Avvai Shanmugi'. In the Hindi filmworld too Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan act in repetitive roles of angry young men or righteous cops or supermen. According to me, once an actor starts getting roles of the 'action hero' he is surely getting old or he has hit the magic age of 35. That is the reason why all the directors try and cast him in roles that don't make him look any older than 30.
My only problem is that it is very difficult to imagine Shahrukh Khan or Amir Khan or Vijay or Suriya as a college student. Its difficult to see them act silly and act like they are lovestruck teenagers.The older the hero, the younger the actress who is paired with him. Recently the movie, 'Billa II", a typical action movie, was made with the lead actor Ajith showing off his grey hair. That was the only redeeming feature of the movie.
What I am trying to say is that it is a pity that these talented actors who have potrayed sensitive roles in their younger days very rarely get the chance to play their real age on screen after a point of time.Any hero who plays the role of a father or a middle aged man gets cast as a character actor and is very rarely considered a 'rising star' in Indian movies.
It is unfortunate that Indian movies rarely show heroes as fathers and also as strong and powerful men. People say that Indian movies commodotise women and they are never given equal importance as men. I think that films in India commodotise men too. We do not have enough directors and actors who are ready to go out of the mould and experiment with different roles for men. Why have actors, when all you need is young, beautiful, nimble footed dancers. 'Action' sequences are also choreographed movements which are strategically placed to entertain and attract the audience attention.
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