THE YEAR OF THE OLDER WOMAN

At least three films did something unusual in 2019. Saand ki Aankh, Mission Mangal and De De Pyar De had older women centre stage, a big change from the penumbral margins they are usually banished to in popular Indian cinema.

- Maithili Rao

Saand ki Aankh hits the bull’s eye…in its unstinted praise of older women. We can mention other women in this roll call of celebration, not just the feisty dadis who became legendary for the shooting skills they discovered accidentally in their 60s. In recent months, there are other older women we have come to admire in films that are as far apart, such as Mission Mangal and De De Pyar De. We loved the savvy working mother who is also a committed scientist, Tara Shinde (Vidya Balan) in Mission Mangal and cheered Manju (Tabu), the cool ex-wife helping her separated fiftyish husband get his 20-something new love in De De Pyar De. Of course, we have all taken the extraordinarily adorable Pinky (Neena Gupta) of Badhaai Ho to our hearts and shared both her embarrassment and courage in having a baby so late in life. What has happened to Hindi cinema? Have directors and producers suddenly discovered the appeal of the older women? A really welcome discovery.