Big heroes’ biggest problem: Where are the girls?

Has the time come for the senior heroes to look for storylines that do not have female leads?

Veterans like Venkatesh and Nagarjuna are finding it difficult to find young actresses. So they are opting for a heroine with no market. They opted for a Shriya, whose chips are down now, for ‘Manam’ and ‘Gopala Gopala.’ Even Balakrishna faced this problem at the time of ‘Legend’ and had to stop the shooting for a few months to look for a suitable heroine. He had zeroed in on Trisha, who doesn’t really have much of a career left. Even Chiranjeevi is going to face the same problem when he starts his 150th film.

Previously, 60-year-old NTR and ANR romanced 20-year-old heroines like Sridevi and Jayasudha. In fact, NTR managed to get Vani Viswanath for his film Ashoka and Meenakshi Seshadri for his Viswamitra when he was in his 70s. But those days are gone. Young actresses are choosing to act with heartthrobs like Mahesh, Bunny and Prabhas. They feel acting with seniors could damage their career. Shriya, who acted with Rajini at the peak of her career, slumped afterwards and never really recovered.

The senior actors are trying to choose movies that suit their age. For instance Venky acted in 'Drushyam' and Nagarjuna even did a movie like 'Gaganam,' which had no heroine. Kamal Haasan too did a heroine-less movie like “Eenadu.”

Hollywood heroes act beyond 65. But, their scripts do not usually have a female lead. Shouldn’t our senior heroes too take a leaf out of these biggies?
By Satya Surya