“That era is gone” – Madhavan says older-hero romances with young heroines have ended

Actor R. Madhavan says the Bollywood trend of older heroes romancing much younger heroines is finally over.

In a provocative comment creating waves across Bollywood, actor R. Madhavan proclaimed that the time of older male heroes romancing much younger female heroines has come to an end, something many cine‑lovers agree with.

Promoting his latest Netflix film, Aap Jaisa Koi, the 55-year-old Madhavan spoke frankly about the changing tastes of audiences. “There are more age-appropriate romances right now. Because people have ripped it apart,” he said. “Woh zamaana gaya, that era is gone,” he insisted.

Bollywood has consistently followed a formula: allow a mature hero in his 50s or 60s to fall in love with a heroine who is decades younger. While films have received criticism for this, audiences now perceive this to be unrealistic and out of touch with current audiences and sensibilities.

Madhavan thinks this cultural shift isn’t necessarily due to box office or money, but through the audience’s voice. “That stopped now. That completely stopped… if people are coming up in arms about something… then that’s not working,” he said.

Madhavan didn’t shy away from the irony: even in his movie Aap Jaisa Koi, he has a marked age difference with co-star Fatima Sana Sheikh (close to 33 years). He describes it as “smart handling,” acknowledging the balanced narrative rather than virtue-signaling age difference.

He further compared it to the late Rishi Kapoor in the 1990s, where even historic romances had older heroes with younger actresses, like in Bol Radha Bol. Madhavan said sharing a screen with Fatima still felt “like a blessing” and even said it was akin to the acceptance Rishi Kapoor had.

Madhavan is hardly alone in advocating for change. He has observed the scarcity of “age-appropriate romances,” and especially for older actors, calling on Bollywood shining stars like Shah Rukh Khan, acknowledging his romantic brilliance, but warning, “You need a heroine of the same age as well. And that’s become rare.”

He asked for more rigorously written scripts that involve mature love, “low-hanging fruit,” he said. Instead, Bollywood provides more thrillers or remakes than anything truly heartwarming that touches multiple generations.

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