Anjali Nair contested the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections from the Thrippunithura constituency as a Twenty20 Party candidate. (Credit: Instagram/@anjaliamm) 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.…