At 5'9", Deepika Padukone towers over most leading men in the industry, even without heels. Shah Rukh Khan is about an inch shorter while her Cocktail co-star Saif Ali Khan is two inches shorter than the actress. And increasingly, most actors are getting used to being vertically challenged by the fairer sex. SRK says, good-humouredly, "There is definitely one advantage of pairing with Deepika. Between shoot breaks, she helps me pick clothes from the top racks." Five-foot-six-inch Aamir who romanced the tall Katrina Kaif (5'8") in a recent release, cheekily said he loves romancing taller women.
This wasn't always the case. It is heard that one of the tallest actresses in the 80s, Zeenat Aman had diaries full of anecdotes about heroes who were propped with high-heeled shoes and even cushions to look taller. In particular, Rishi Kapoor and the late Rajesh Khanna, the shortest actors of their generations, had a tough time. Yesteryear actress Zaheeda, who loved high heels and huge bouffant, recalls a hilarious time on the set of Anokhi Raat when she had to be literally cut to size by co-star Sanjeev Kumar. Apparently, he told her, "Don't wear high heels... at least don't pile that hair so high on your head. Flatten your hair. You look too tall."
The current crop of heroes are far more charitable. Shah Rukh has admitted that all his recent female leads have been taller than him. Salman Khan, who is about 5'7", has had no qualms being paired with actresses like Sushmita Sen and Katrina Kaif. And so has Farhan Akhtar who worked with Sonam Kapoor and Deepika. Huma Qureshi, at 5'7" was seen with her 5'5" co-star Arshad Warsi in Dedh Ishqiya. In the 90s, actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Kajol, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta were of average height. But now, with the increase in the advent of models and beauty pageant winners in the industry, there has been a whole mass of tall Bollywood heroines. And clearly, more and more actors are getting comfortable working with actresses who tower over them.
