World Senior Citizen’s Day: 6 Movies Where Elders Smashed Stereotypical Notions Of Society
These movies humanised elders!
Representation of all kinds of people in cinema matters because people’s portrayal in movies quickly stereotypes them in real life as well. One such sect of people who are always stereotyped on the big screen is senior citizens. They are either shown to be grumpy, orthodox, rigid and always shaming the younger generation for their lifestyle. But this portrayal of senior citizens in our films is thankfully changing as we have had some of the greatest actors smashing these stereotypes. So, on World Senior Citizen’s Day, here are six Bollywood movies that show senior citizens in the most non-stereotypical manner.
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1. Badhaai Ho
One of the earliest films to highlight that senior parents also have sex lives. Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao played the elderly couple who ends up conceiving a child much later and also shows how they are shamed for being sexually active with each other.
2. Sharmaji Namkeen
This Rishi Kapoor starrer is about an elderly man who explores his interest in cooking after getting retired, thus, proving that senior citizens also like to pursue their hobbies.
3. Piku
Even though Amitabh Bachchan’s character in this film was a little like many senior citizens who obsess over their health, he was a feminist father who told his daughter that she does not need a man to add purpose to her life!
4. Uunchai
This movie challenged all those who said that senior people are weak and should prefer resting at home. Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani and Anupam Kher perfectly portray that elders can also be healthy and undertake those activities which even youngsters cannot.
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5. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
That scene featuring Nasseruddin Shah and Farhan Akhtar humanised parents for the audience. It perfectly showed how senior parents also have regrets and guilt when it comes to family.
Also read: 6 Times Naseeruddin Shah’s Flawed Father Characters Humanised Parents To Us
6. Ishq-E-Nadaan
The segment featuring Neena Gupta and Kanwaljit Singh showed how senior citizens also deserve a chance at love, and that they should not be shamed for having feelings for someone even at a later stage.
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All these six movies show that senior citizens can do all those things we youngsters do, and still be just as cool as us!
First Published: August 21, 2023 12:13 PM
