An adage in Bollywood says ‘a hero is only as old as the heroine he wears on his arm’. So, suddenly the under-30 heroine is in great demand. A trade source points out that there are two reasons for this. One, the top heroes, most of who are in their 40s, prefer to make a fresh screen pair with a younger girl. Two, there are a crop of young heroes — Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Sushant Singh Rajput — all of who need to be paired with young girls, unless of course, they’re doing some off-beat stuff, where they can be seen romancing a cougar. In fact, one has heard from casting agents in film corporations that the established heroes have made it clear that they would prefer to work with the younger lot. Check this out. As of today, Shah Rukh Khan has teamed up with the 27-year-old Deepika Padukone in Chennai Express. Ajay Devgn romanced the 23-year-old Tamannaah in Himmatwala.

Akshay Kumar is serenading the 25-year-old Sonakshi Sinha in his Thuppakki remake. Aamir Khan will be seen with the 25-year-old Anushka Sharma in P.K. Salman Khan has chosen a 25-something Daisy as his romantic lead in Mental. Farhan Akhtar will be seen with the 27-year-old Sonam Kapoor as his love interest in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. And, John Abraham has the 26-year-old Kangana Ranaut as his lover in Shootout At Wadala. There’s talk of Esha Gupta romancing an A-lister, but she remains tight-lipped because she’s been warned by the filmmaker to stay quiet. Coming to the younger lot, Ranveer is romancing Deepika in Ram Leela, Arjun has Alia Bhatt as his co-star in 2 States, Sidharth is teaming up with Parineeti Chopra in Hasi Toh Phasi, Shahid has Ileana D’Cruz as his heroine in Phata Poster Nikla Hero, Sushant is also teaming up with Parineeti and Arjun has Sasha Agha in one of his romantic outings. Says filmmaker Milan Luthria, “We have to remember that this is a business without rules.

This is always about finding the glove that fits. A filmmaker should follow only the requirement of the script. I don’t think age has anything to do with it. If I’m making a Summer of ‘42, I’ll cast a 40-year-old woman with 20-year-old guy. Yes, there has been a tradition for many years for leading men to be paired with women who are much younger. On screen, men age slower than women. However, I’m not a believer of that. Actresses like Vidya Balan have proved otherwise and they’re on top today. It all depends on how interesting the character is and every time we try to brand something, we always fall on our faces. It is a myth and one should do what is right for the story.” Milan has a point. However, those who are casting today and see their films releasing sometime at the end of 2014 or early 2015, are definitely thinking of casting girls who have youth on their side.

And filmmaker Vikas Bahl knows this. Says he, “That’s always been the case. In most of our stories, the hero and heroine are not married to each other; they marry at the end. So that’s the sub-30 age. Whether it’s a romantic film or an action film or a comedy… whatever the genre, the sub-30 age is by default.”Vikas admits that the ultimate casting is script-driven. Says he, “I think most of our scripts, right from the time we started making films in India, have had lead players do characters that are sub-30. In many of our films, we don’t discuss age. We leave it to the imagination of our audience. How old Akshay, Salman, Kareena, Katrina or Kangana are is open to imagination. We just dress up under-30 whatever character they are playing.” That’s why Shah Rukh, who is 47, says he is 27 in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. And, his leading lady Katrina feels the need to be introduced as a 24-year-old. In our movies, age is just a number used to the convenience of the filmmaker.