"Eww, a 39-year-old romancing a teenager!??"
Ranveer Singh is set to star in Aditya Dhar’s next film but his reported onscreen romance has raised eyebrows.
Titled Dhurandhar, the film also stars Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan and Sanjay Dutt.
It has now been reported that Sara Arjun has been cast opposite Ranveer.
Sara is best known for playing the younger version of Aishwarya Rai’s character Nandini in Ponniyin Selvan.
Reportedly, Sara will be Ranveer’s love interest in the film.
However, netizens highlighted the problematic nature of it, given that Ranveer is 39 while Sara is 19 years old.
Peeping Moon reported: “Although her role is said to be relatively small in this male-dominated story, this film (by Aditya Dhar) marks her transition to a lead heroine after years of being known as a child actress in Hindi and Telugu cinema.”
Ranveer Singh to romance 19 year old Sara Arjun in Aditya Dhar film
byu/Rast987 inBollyBlindsNGossip
The 20-year age gap has not gone down well on social media, with many criticising the casting choice.
Referring to Ranveer’s Bollywood debut in 2011, one said:
“She was 5 years old when Band Baaja Baarat released.”
Shocked by the reported casting, another wrote:
“Eww, a 39-year-old romancing a teenager!?? How did they think this was ok.”
One comment read: “I feel like inherently these older actors relish this kind of opportunity because they know if they do it outside of movies it will be a lot of flak, so might as well do it in the name of a movie.”
Others were quick to point out that the makers are to blame, not Ranveer.
A Reddit user said: “Ranveer didn’t choose her as heroine… so no need to demonise him.”
Many netizens highlighted the ongoing trend of older Bollywood actors being paired with much younger actresses.
Hitting out at the trend, one person said:
“Enough of this c**p. We must call out this paedophilic casting. No, her being an adult doesn’t normalise this.”
“Only if the role/requirement specifically brings out the age difference then only such pairings should be allowed.”
A netizen said: “Not justifying this of course, but don’t overlook this witty king.
“Bollywood is full of creeps when you have such great examples.”
In the comments section, some pointed out that Shah Rukh Khan was 20 years older than Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma during his onscreen romances with them.
“Don’t Deepika and Anushka both have a 20+ age gap with SRK and they both debuted when they were around 19-20 age?”
A user answered: “Ya that was also disgusting and so is this.”
Another stated: “SRK was 43 when he romanced Anushka (20). Forty-two when he romanced 22-year-old Deepika.”
Filming for Dhurandhar is scheduled to be completed by January 2025, however, the reported pairing of Sara Arjun and Ranveer Singh has attracted attention for the wrong reasons.
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