Saand Ki Aankh director Tushar Hiranandani believes Neena Gupta, other actresses get same work as men their age

Saand Ki Aankh director Tushar Hiranandani was asked about his decision to cast young actors Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar in the roles of two older women. Here is his reply.

Saand Ki Aankh director Tushar Hiranandani believes that Neena Gupta and other female actors get the same amount of work in Bollywood as the male actors their age. Tushar made the statement in a heated interview with Firstpost post the release of his film.

Tushar Hiranandani with actors Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu at the trailer launch of their film Saand Ki Aankh.(IANS)

In the interview, Tushar was grilled at length about his decision to cast young actors--Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar-- in the roles of two 60-year-old women. Tushar defended his decision by calling films like Mother India his inspiration. He even gave an example of how a ‘50 year old’ Aamir Khan played a college student in 3 Idiots. When reminded that ‘prejudice in our society is against women not men, against older women not older men’, Tushar replied, “I am the director. As a director I felt these two were the best for the parts and I casted them.”

 

“There are people casting Neena Gupta. Every actor who deserves to be in the film are getting cast. I made my film the way I wanted to make it. I have a right to do what I want to. Do you have any other question or we’ll keep on debating on this?,” he said in the interview. When asked if he believes Neena is getting the same amount of work as her male counterparts, Tushar said, “Of course they’re getting now ya. Lot of actresses are getting work today. There is not only movies, there are digital shows. A lot of work is happening in the industry. You should be happy in this time of the world there is a recession, a lot of people are getting work.”

Neena is 60 years old and has been seen in only a handful of movies in the last five years, including last year’s Badhaai Ho, which earned her praise from audience and critics alike. Meanwhile, a few male actors in their 60s include Anupam Kher, Anil Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor.

In 2017, Neena shared a post on Instagram, asking people to hire her. “I live in mumbai and working am a good actor looking fr good parts to play,” she had written with a picture of herself.

Neena had earlier last month sparked controversy by criticising the film’s makers for not casting more age-appropriate actors for the role. “Yes I was just thinking about this hamari umar ke role toe kamse kam humse kara lo bhai.” Even Soni Razdan had felt that the makers of Saand ki Aankh should have approached senior actors for the roles.

Taapsee said while she can see where the criticism is coming from, she will not let go of a good opportunity as such parts are hard to come by for women stars of all ages. “Forget about old, the young actresses also have fewer parts. The problem is with women parts in general. We have a dearth of parts for women in general. Having done the kind of things we have done (in our career), it is just a snowball effect to keep getting those challenging roles, but how many actresses get those kind of roles?,” the actor told PTI in an interview.

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