When Bollywood's leading actresses starred opposite younger actors

Most of Bollywood's leading stars may be pushing 50, but they invariably find themselves paired with actresses who are almost half their age.

Katrina Kaif

So, the chances of established actresses to be the love interest of A-list guys have been going south. In such a scenario, they are teaming up with relatively younger and newer actors.

Sidharth Malhotra will be seen opposite Katrina Kaif (above) in an untitled love story

Like Katrina Kaif (33), who will star with Sidharth Malhtora (30) in debutant director Nitya Mehra's love story that spans three decades. Nitya, a former assistant to Farhan Akhtar, will have the actors play a couple ageing from 30 to 60 years.

On being asked how it feels to be working with an established female actress, Sid reportedly said that he used to watch Kat's films when he was a student - he was just 18 when Kat made her debut in 'Boom' (2003). He added that he hopes to not look like a junior alongside her on the big screen. Apparently, Sid's confession did not go down too well with Kat, who shares screen space with another younger actor - Aditya Roy Kapoor (29) - in 'Fitoor'.

Kareena Kapoor (34) teams up with Arjun Kapoor (30) in R Balki's next project titled 'Ki and Ka'

Childhood crush
Kareena Kapoor Khan (34) has just begun shooting for R Balki's rom-com 'Ki and Ka' which features Arjun Kapoor (30) as her co-star. They play a married couple. Bebo made her debut in 'Refugee' (2000) and Arjun was barely 15 then. In fact, he also admitted that he had a big crush on Kareena during his childhood days. Now that the actress has decided to be script wise and look beyond A-list stars, she does not mind being paired with the younger lot.

Kareena Kapoor Khan starred with Imran Khan in two films - 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' (2012) and 'Gori Tere Pyaar Mein' (2013). The actor was just 17 when Bebo made her Bollywood debut 15 years ago

Kareena has also done two films with Imran Khan, who is two years younger to her - they featured together in 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' (2012) and 'Gori Tere Pyaar Mein' (2013). By the time Imran stepped into the film industry with 'Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na' (2008), the Kapoor scion had already made her mark as an actress to reckon with.

Vidya Balan, 37, romanced a 28-year-old Ali Fazal in 'Bobby Jasoos' last year

Decade apart
When Ali Fazal (28) romanced Vidya Balan (37) in 'Bobby Jassos' (2014), it attracted a lot of attention. Instead of being apprehensive, the young actor felt Vidya's tremendous acting skills motivated him to perform better. She had made her Hindi film debut with 'Parineeta' (2005) when Ali was 18 years old.

Vidya Balan in 'Kismet Konnection' played the love interest of Shahid Kapoor, who is three years younger to her

Vids had also romanced a younger Shahid Kapoor in 'Kismet Konnection' (2008). Many felt that Shahid and she were a mismatched couple due to Sasha's boylike looks. At that time, he was 28 and she was 30. During the shoot of the film, speculations about their romance also did the rounds. Vidya has paired up with Emraan Hashmi, who is a year younger to her, in films like 'The Dirty Picture' (2011), 'Ghanchakkar' (2013) and 'Hamari Adhuri Kahaani' this year.

Shahid Kapoor was 28 when he was paired opposite a 31-year-old Rani Mukerji in 'Dil Bole Hadippa!' (2009)

Career boost
Rani Mukerji (37) featured with Shahid Kapoor (34) in 'Dil Bole Hadippa!' (2009) and with Prithviraj (32) in 'Aiyya' (2012) in a bid to put her career back on track just before her marriage. However, neither of the two films could manage to set off fireworks at the box-office.

In last year's 'Gunday', Priyanka Chopra, 34, wooed Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, both aged 30, on reel

With the boys
Priyanka Chopra (33) worked with two younger actors in 'Gunday' (2014). She starred opposite Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, both aged 30. PeeCee had broken onto the big screen with 'The Hero: Love Story of A Spy' (2003), Arjun and Ranveer were just 18.

Konkona Sen Sharma (35) and Ranbir Kapoor (32) shared screen space in 'Wake Up Sid' (2009). The film's plot revolved around an older woman and a college boy, so their casting did not look odd as such.

Bipasha Basu (36) starred opposite television actor Karan Singh Grover (33) in last year's horror flick, 'Alone'. The two are also rumoured to be a twosome. Earlier, Bips acted with Ranbir Kapoor (32) in 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' (2008), and with Neil Nitin Mukesh (33) in 'Aa Dekhen Zara' (2009). Though Ranbir and Bips didn't look bad together, the age difference between Neil and Bips was quite prominent on screen.