'Bhagavanth Kesari' showcases Nandamuri Balakrishna as a middle-aged man who is in his late 40s or so. In a scene, we see Kajal Aggarwal's character point out his greying beard. The scene consciously attempts to tell the audience that the hero is not young.
The reception to Balayya playing an age-appropriate role has been very encouraging. People seem to love the fact that the senior actor hasn't danced to glitzy songs alongside his heroine in 'Bhagavanth Kesari'. The divinely-inspired character from 'Akhanda', too, was an age-appropriate role.
There is clear evidence that people love to watch Balayya in age-appropriate roles. When he danced like a youngster opposite Shruti Haasan in 'Veera Simha Reddy', many did complain and rightly so. They asked, "Where was the necessity for such songs?"
In 'Saindhav', Venkatesh, too, will be seen playing his age (though not literally). In this week's release 'Leo', Thalapathy Vijay's character has a teen son. In 'Vakeel Saab', Pawan Kalyan played his age. In 'Vikram', Kamal Haasan played a grandfather.
This is something for Chiranjeevi to ponder. If 'Bholaa Shankar' was trolled that badly, a major factor is that he tried to play a youngster in it. His scenes with Sree Mukhi and Tamannaah Bhatia were panned by everyone. Chiru must be looking at 'Bhagavanth Kesari' (because Balayya is a comparable hero, unlike Venkatesh or Kamal) with a degree of self-introspection.
In fact, Chiru's next director has got the memo. Vasishta of 'Bimbisara' fame recently said that Chiru will be playing an age-appropriate role in Mega157. This is quite an encouraging sign...
