Imagine, we thought we only had to sympathise with Kannada actor Jaggesh when he cried and said that women half his age refuse to be his heroine. How naive were we! Our sympathy needs to go much further. All the way to Sunny Deol. (Hat tip to Rukmini Shrinivasan who alerted us to this crisis.)
It all began when a reporter asked why his 57-year-old self was cast opposite a 19-year-old Urvashi Rautela in Singh Saab The Great. Deol at this point wondered aloud why A-List heroines refuse to work with him and then went through the several stages of grief.
Denial: “We are acting. We are not really husband and wife. If she’s much younger, that’s fine. A lot of wives are much younger than husbands. That’s no secret. And by the way, I am sure Urvashi is not 19 year (sic) either.”
Anger: “I search for new heroines, like Urvashi Rautela. These girls do not ration dates. While working on a film I don’t have to deal with my heroine’s tantrums when she’s a newcomer. Now if you give an A-lister co-star I won’t be able to work with her.”
Bargaining: “I get a chance to give new talent to the film industry. So yeah, I’ll be seen with new co-stars in the future.”
Depression: “The top heroines turn me down whenever I ask them to work with me. They want to work with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Hrithik Roshan.”
Acceptance: “There are lots of new talented and pretty girls in the industry. And trust me, these new girls won’t look mismatched with me. I am open to adapting myself to the changes around me.”
Oh, Sunny! Have you met Jaggesh?