Going by the barrage of movies Bollywood has churned out lately, with the twenty something heroines being paired opposite the forty plus heroes, it's palpable that this trend is becoming a quintessential ingredient with filmmakers. Although this isn't any ground-breaking strategy movie makers are opting for - Dilip Kumar was seen cuddling a twenty something Saira Banu in the 1970s films like Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag, Vinod Khanna who played a 'don with a kind heart' in the 1980s Dayavan, rescued a 21 year old Madhuri Dixit off the streets by marrying her. So are the younger actresses being chosen over their older counterparts, because they're fresh faces? Or are there other factors involved too? Here are a few industry stalwarts to give us their analytical stand on the motive behind, pairing up older actors with younger starlets in Bollywood.

We observe that this ubiquitous pairing tendency is more rampant and clearly exponential in the 21st century. Ram Gopal Varma's 2007 film Nishabd, had the senior Amitabh Bachchan falling head over heels for a teenager Jiah Khan who was 46 years younger than him. In the second decade of the new millennium, Akshay Kumar fought thugs to reaffirm his love for southern siren Asin in Khiladi 786, who is 18 years his junior. He was paired again with Asin for Sajid Khan's 2012 laugh riot, Housefull 2. In several films, the Khan troika has been seen with a bevy of youthful beauties by their side as well. The roaring Salman Khan was seen bonding with Katrina Kaif in the immensely successful Ek Tha Tiger; she is younger to him by nineteen years. Sallu also won 20 years younger Sonakshi Sinha's heart in his 2010 cult film Dabangg.