While Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal continues to surge ahead, breaking box office records and drawing intense scrutiny for its perceived misogyny, violence and vulgarity, a new discussion point has arisen from the movie. Amidst the ongoing conversations surrounding the film, a segment of the audiences has expressed astonishment over the fact that Charu Shankar, who portrays Ranbir Kapoor’s mother in the movie, is only one year older than the star in real life.
According to IMDb, Charu was born on August 17, 1981, while Ranbir was born on September 28, 1982. In Animal, Charu, 42, takes on the role of Jyoti B Singh, the wife of Balbir R Singh (played by a 66-year-old Anil Kapoor) and the mother of Ranvijay “Vijay” Balbir Singh (played by a 41-year-old Ranbir Kapoor). Prior to appearing in Animal, Charu had played small roles in Ashima Chibber’s Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway and Nikkhil Advani’s Rocket Boys.
As soon as the topic sparked a conversation in a subreddit, many redditors drew parallels between this incident and several others from the past. One user commented, “Shefali Shah was younger than Akshay when she played his mom in Waqt. That record is probably still untouched.” At the time of Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), Akshay Kumar was 38, whereas Shefali was 32.
Charu Shankar is just one year older than RK yet she played his mother in Animal. A big facepalm.
byu/Jessdayyy inBollyBlindsNGossip
While some redditors pointed out the situation of 39-year-old Riddhi Dogra playing the mother to 58-year-old Shah Rukh Khan in Atlee Kumar’s Jawan, others dismissed this argument by noting that she was just his foster mother in the movie.
“Sanjeev Kumar was the same age as Amitabh and Dharmendra still played a much older character than them in Sholay,” one user observed, while another pointed out, “Nandamuri Balakrishna is 31 years older than Honey Rose who played his wife and also mother to the younger Balakrishna (whose heroine is Shruthi Hassan, 25 years younger to Balakrishna) in Veera Simha Reddy.”
Some also took the opportunity to heap praise on Charu Shankar for her versatility and performance, especially in the series Siyaasat.
Released on December 1, the Sandeep Reddy Vanga film has so far grossed Rs 360 crore worldwide. Meanwhile, its domestic nett collection currently stands at Rs 202.57 crore. On Sunday, the film surpassed the three-day collection of Siddharth Anand’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan, although it fell short of the record set by Atlee Kumar’s SRK film Jawan.
In her review of Animal, The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta wrote: “This Ranbir Kapoor-Anil Kapoor-Rashmika Mandanna film ricochets off target after having raced full-tilt to the mid-point: if it had come to an end at the interval, it would have made its point.”
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
Ranbir Kapoor, on-screen mother Charu Shankar’s one year age-gap sparks more debate around Animal – The Indian Express
Leave a comment