3 min readKochiMay 11, 2026 07:17 PM IST Age disparity is a universal issue in the entertainment industry. The casting of older male actors opposite significantly younger female artistes has become so sickeningly normalised that age-appropriate casting, unfortunately, appears weird. In one of the most recent problematic examples of this, a 24-year-old Sreeleela was made to romance a 54-year-old Pawan Kalyan in director Harish Shankar’s Ustaad Bhagat Singh (2026), showcasing the industry’s entrenched patriarchal mindset that male actors are “ageless,” while women are not. This issue extends beyond the casting of romantic pairs. Sometimes, very young female actors are cast as mothers to significantly older male superstars, but seldom vice versa. One recent example was the casting of 34-year-old Honey Rose as the mother of 65-year-old Nandamuri Balakrishna in Gopichand Malineni’s Veera Simha Reddy (2023). Even Malayalam cinema is no different; actor Kaviyoor Ponnamma has played the mother of Sathyan, who was about 33 years her senior. Actor Anjali Nair has also appeared as the on-screen mother of actors significantly older than her. Must Read …