In the two-minute second teaser of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, what stands out the most is not Ranbir Kapoor, or even the visceral violence. It is the jaw-dropping transformation of Bobby Deol. His rebirth has left everyone stunned. Deol is part of a growing cohort of older actors who were written off in the 2000s but are returning to the screen better than ever. It’s the age of Bollywood Daddies—and nobody is complaining.
The term ‘daddy’ is now being used on social media to define older stars—whose careers seemed to be over or never really took off, but have now gotten a second wind. Deol has joined R Madhavan, Suneil Shetty, and Milind Soman among others in reminding a new generation of Indians that they are still in the game.
Barring actors like Anil Kapoor whose body of work has defined every decade since the 1980s, Bollywood is rarely kind to its ageing stars. Women face the worst of it, but even male stars do not find space in the ‘sexiest men alive’ surveys and other such lists. But the Bollywood Daddies are bucking this trend.
They wear their greys proudly but without the potbellies. They sport salt-and-pepper hair instead of dyeing them jet black. They focus on their fitness regime, and hone their physiques.
Shah Rukh Khan is about a decade younger to Kapoor, but it was his role as a father in Jawaan (2023) that brought this trend to centre stage. He’s the badass father smoking his cigar and throttling a bike, and beating up bad guys.
Rebirth as the daddy
This trend probably started in 2017, when R Madhavan shared a selfie of himself, topless, with a hint of salt and pepper in his beard, and a jawline that’s sharper than laser. It went viral. It was as if we finally got our own George Clooney, and ageing didn’t just become ‘normal’ but also sexy.
Bobby Deol or even Madhavan’s viral selfies are not the only markers of this ‘daddy’ movement. Suniel Shetty, whose Amazon Mini TV show Hunterrr got 2.5 million views despite a sketchy storyline, shows the power of his appeal. Shetty’s last noteworthy appearance was as the antagonist Raghavan Dutta in Main Hoon Na (2004). He reprised his role as Shyam in Phir Hera Pheri (2006). None of these roles, however, did much to revive his career, or image.
It was much later, in 2019, with the remake of Sheher ki ladki song from his and Raveena Tandon’s 1996 film Rakshak that sort of reintroduced Shetty. Badshah’s remake of the song has 255 million views, and a lot is from watching Shetty in a suave, sleek, ‘daddy’ avatar.
Since then, he has only set pulses racing and hearts palpitating. From social media to public appearances, including at his daughter Athiya Shetty’s wedding with cricketer KL Rahul, everyone is sitting up and taking note of the ‘new’ Suniel Shetty. People collectively went into a trance when he walked the ramp with Athiya at the opening of Jio World Plaza.
Also read: When Bollywood stars turn into fans—cosying up to David Beckham, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry
No need for Hollywood
There are, of course, actors who have never gone out of fashion. Top on this list is Anil Kapoor, whose career has been a steady dishing out of popular movies. He, too, has been labeled the universal ‘daddy’ figure, a role he cheekily embraced in Thank You for Coming (2023) by playing the older love interest, Professor, of Kanika (Bhumi Pednekar).
The other consistent ‘sex symbol’ of sorts in India has been model-actor Milind Soman, whose 1995 video with Alisha Chinoy for Made in India song can probably still make people, irrespective of gender or age, swoon.
Over the years, he has also embraced his greying hair and changing body, and remained people of the most popular symbols of fitness, especially with his win in the toughest triathlon in the world. Soman won the Ironman Triathlon in 2015, and showed all young guns how it’s done.
He also enacted the role of the sexy, older, more sorted lover, Dr Aamir Warsi, in Amazon Prime Video’s Four More Shots Please (2019-23) opposite Sayani Gupta.
Bollywood finally has its own daddies, and we don’t need to look at Hollywood for our regular dose of hotness.
(Edited by Prashant)