Hyderabad: Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt has shed light on the age-old issue of ageism in Hindi cinema. Pooja, who marked her return to the screens with Sadak 2, said that opportunities get dried up for women over a certain age in Bollywood.
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Pooja, who made a comeback after nearly two decades with Sadak 2 and then web series Bombay Bagums, admitted that roles dried up for her after a certain time. Talking about ageism in the film industry, Bhatt told a webloid, "They do and I know why because there’s a perception, we’re youth obsessed. We’re terrified of mortality, which is why when you look at the average fashion magazine, everyone is talking about a product to stop the passage of time. It’s anti-ageing and making your stretch marks disappear. No one wants to accept the passage of time."
Pooja also said that the sexuality of women also gets completely tucked away when they reach a certain age as the industry is still captive of deep-rooted shelf-life limits for its female stars.
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"Especially in Bollywood, I think we’ve decided a shelf life for women, and when she reaches a certain age, we might give her a role which is powerful and strong but it’s quite clear that her sexuality has to be kind of completely tucked away. You’re not looked upon as a creature that’s desirable or even talk about her desires because we don’t want to go there. I don’t know why it makes us so uncomfortable. But we’re okay with men who’re kind of older and having affairs with younger women," said Pooja.
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Earlier, Pooja has also shared how back then she would have found it tough to release Dushman unless she had a male star to be a part of the cast. The film starring Kajol in a double role also had Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role. However, Pooja, who delivered a solid performance as self-made Rani Irani in Bombay Begums, says things have changed for the batter as the numbers of women writers, filmmakers who are in key positions today have increased.
