Shilpa Shetty – Meezaan Jaffrey in Hungama 2, the Mrs Robinson syndrome in Bollywood

By Subhash K. Jha -

July 20, 2021 - 10:51 AM IST

A 40-plus Shilpa Shetty looking hotter than the hotties half her age, singing and dancing and romancing with 20-plus Meezaan Jaffrey in Hungama 2 is nothing new in cinema. It is known as the ‘Mrs Robinson’ syndrome. In the Mike Nichols’ classic The Graduate the much-older Anne Bancroft seduced the happily-surrendered Dustin Hoffman. And in The Reader Kate Winslet was shown having sex with a teenage boy. Bollywood is not short of the bold spirit. A look at the age-challenged seduction game in Bollywood.

Shilpa Shetty – Meezaan Jaffrey in Hungama 2, the Mrs Robinson syndrome in Bollywood

1. Simi Garewal - Rishi Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1968): Though they didn’t go all the way they did go far enough with the 14-year old Chintoo Baba ogling at his school teacher’s wet thighs with more than a passing curiosity. It was the classic seduction position, and one which director Raj Kapoor thought of even before Anne Bancroft flashed her bare legs at the wonder-stuck Hoffman.

2. Meena Kumari - Guru Dutt in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962): She was the lonely alcoholic wife. He was her smitten adoring Man-Friday. Much younger, emotionally and sexually inexperienced. She teased him, provoked him, and prodded his dormant emotions awake. There was just a hint of physical intimacy at the end which Guru Dutt had to fight to preserve. This was one of the earliest and most evocative representations of erotic attraction between a virginal boy-man and an older lonely woman who could do with some male company.

3. Dimple Kapadia - Amol Mhatre in Leela (2002): Stagnant sterile marriage impels married woman Dimple Kapadia to find excitement love and, ahem, sex with a teenager. After doing the film Dimple was very embarrassed about the film and insisted on not talking about it.

4. Manisha Koirala - Aditya Seal in Ek Chotisi Love Story (2002): Manisha took her one-time friend Shashilal Nair to court for projecting this film in a sleazy light when she expected more class. The film had scenes of the 15-year old boy masturbating to images of his fantasy-woman. Not an aesthetic experience at all.

5. Sushmita Sen - Shah Rukh Khan in Main Hoon Na (2004): Technically Shah Rukh is older than Sushmita. But in Farah Khan’s feisty campus romance SRK played a student besotted with his teacher. It was all done in a camp mood of tongue-in-cheek erotica.

6. Aishwarya Rai - Zayed Khan in Shabd (2002): Intellectual mumbojumbo about a writer Sanjay Dutt’s wife and her relationship with a character in her husband’s book who comes to life. Zayed looked suitably awkward with Aishwarya in this Leena Yadav-directed misfire. Later in life Aishwarya actually married a man younger than her.

7. Raakhee Gulzar - Rishi Kapoor in Doosra Aadmi (1977): One of commercial Hindi cinema’s earliest attempts to take the man-woman relationship beyond the conventional. Raakhee was a portrait of enchanting desolation as a smoking drinking career-woman who falls for a much younger guy played by Rishi Kapoor. In the memorable duet ‘Kya Mausam Hai’ it was interesting to see how director Ramesh Talwar applied the rules of the commercial Hindi cinema to a very unusual situation. The film bombed at the box office.

8. Kareena Kapoor - Imran Khan in Ek Main Aur Ek Tu (2012): They could’ve passed off as same-age couple. But the script insisted on giving Kareena Kapoor a biological seniority. Just a small age-difference. But it was interesting that it was even brought up for consideration.

9. Poonam Pandey - Shivum Nair in Nasha (2013): The boy has the hots for the dark mysterious sultry siren. The film captures that moment between curiosity and satiation with understanding and warmth. Poonam looks experienced while Shivum fumbles and struggles with his trouser zip. Says the newcomer, “It wasn’t difficult to be seduced. By the time Poonam and I shot our first intimate scene I had settled into character and could feel the excitement of the chap I was playing. I had no time to think of my inhibitions as I had to do the love-making scenes exactly how the director Amit Saxena wanted.”

10. Shilpa Shukla - Shadab Kamal in B A Pass (2013): Playing the bored adventurous Delhi housewife out to have some fun with a young boy Shilpa Shukla delivers a bold and seductive performance contoured by bouts of fitful fumbling and groaning. Shadab Kamal as the underage gigolo is convincing. Says Shadab, “I treated the intimate scenes like any other scenes. I also learnt to enjoy the love-making scenes as the real thing rather than faked ones. I’ve performed love-making scenes on stage. So the inhibitions were long ago abandoned. But I’d sometimes break out of character and giggle like a school kid. This habit was quite embarrassing when you are in the middle of a passionate scene.”

11. Kareena Kapoor Khan - Arjun Kapoor in Ki & Ka: Director R Balki was in two minds whether to make a mention of the age difference or not. He finally did. The lead pair’s age difference was never a subject of discussion. Kareena even performed the intimate scenes with her younger co-star without any demur.

12. Konkona Sen Sharma - Ranbir Kapoor in Wake Up Sid: Yes yes, Konkona looked older than Ranbir because she was. No one was hiding the fact from the audience. Director Ayan Mukerjee had explained, “Yes, Konkona's character Ayesha is a few years older than the guy. But it's not Summer Of 42, please! Nor is the age difference concealed here as it was between Ranbir and Bipasha in Bachna Ae Haseeno. What happened was that we wrote in the age difference because I wanted only these two to be in my film. Period.”

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