Simi Garewal in Mera Naam Joker and (below) Jaya Prada and Dino Morea in Deha

Now that Ram Gopal Varma and Shashilal Nair are fast groping at the sensitive issue of a much older man falling in love with a very young girl, filmmakers have suddenly woken up to the possibilities of doing generation-challenged romances on the screen. Nothing sleazy about it. And if we’ve Amitabh Bachchan doing a Lolita without trepidation why not the ladies? Producer Keshu Ramsay, who executed all those slick Khiladi movies in the 1980s for his favourite actor Akshay Kumar, is onto a new ball game. He will soon produce a film that will cast his son, Aryaman (seen recently in Ramsay’s Family), as a young man desperately and passionately in love with a much older woman.

Confirming this information, Ramsay says, “Yes, I’m making such a film with my son. The hunt is on for a suitable actress and a director.” Ramsay has already sounded out a stunning actress who hasn’t been seen onscreen much lately. The hunt is on for a “suitably sensitive” director.

It isn’t only Keshu Ramsay who’s thinking of an unspeakable rapport between a child-man and an experienced woman. In Hyderabad the production company, Colorchips, who have just completed Mani Shankar’s Mukhbir, plan to start their new film about a sensitive relationship between a young man, to be played by Sammir Dattani, and an older woman. Says producer Sudhir Rambhotla of Colorchips. “We believe the audiences’ tastes are changing. They’re open to seeing new permutations and equations in the man-woman relationship. No one wants to see teenyboppers running around trees.” In fact, painfully young men falling in love with experienced women is not a new theme to Hindi cinema. We’ve seen Dimple Kapadia do it with Akshaye Khanna in Dil Chahta Hai, Amol Mhatre in Leela and more recently Saif Ali Khan in Being Cyrus. Earlier, Raj Kapoor shocked the world and its prudish aunt when he allowed little Rishi Kapoor to think big thoughts about his teacher Simi Garewal. But the question is, would audiences watch the unconventional jodi without a squirm? “Why not?” shoots back Dino Morea, “I’ve done a beautiful romance with an older woman played by the beautiful Jaya Prada. It’s a film directed by Mahesh Manjrekar called Deha. It all depends on the treatment.”

Sammir Dattani, who will play the 22-year-old love interest to a 45-plus costar in the ColorChips film, says it’s all about the aesthetics. “Such attractions are not uncommon. When I was in school I had a crush similar to Rishi Kapoor’s crush in Mera Naam Joker on my teacher. Guys of my generation always find older women fascinating, and that’s also true of the girls. I’m looking forward to doing the film. Hopefully my costar will be Shabana Azmi or Dimple Kapadia.”