Oct 31, 2026 10:30am IST
From Wamiqa Gabbi in ‘Prahaar’ to Shraddha Kapoor in ‘Chhichhore’, Young Actresses Who Played Mothers to Young Adults on Screen
Actresses in Hindi cinema have been wary of playing mothers on screen. This reluctance stemmed from the fear of immediate typecasting, which often restricted future offers exclusively to "mom roles." Furthermore, under the prevailing belief that female stars have significantly shorter career spans than their male counterparts, actresses naturally preferred to prolong their stints as youthful leading ladies before eventually transitioning into maternal parts. Ironically, this system forced some actresses to play mothers to the very heroes they had previously romanced on screen; both Waheeda Rehman and Rakhee famously transitioned from playing Amitabh Bachchan’s romantic interests to portraying his mother.
When leading ladies did accept maternal roles, the characters were heavily compromised to preserve their star status. Directors frequently utilized double roles or flashbacks (Deepika Padukone in “Jawaan” as mother to the younger Shah Rukh Khan character), allowing the actress to remain in a glamorous avatar for a large portion of the film. Moreover, these "mother roles" were usually limited to raising toddlers rather than adolescents or full-grown adults.
While modern audiences frequently debate the casting of Shefali Shah as the mother to Akshay Kumar—an actor five years her senior—in “Waqt: The Race Against Time”, the practice is deeply entrenched in Bollywood history. Nargis was famously only 26 years old when she aged on screen in “Mother India” to play the mother of two sons portrayed by actors her own age. It is only recently, however, that veteran stars like Madhuri Dixit have embraced playing mothers to actors in their 30s like Ritwik Bhowmik in “Maja Ma” and Triptii Dimri in “Maa Behen,” signaling a gradual shift in the industry's casting dynamics.
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Quite recently, 33-year-old Wamiqa Gabbi aged herself on screen for her role in “Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal Nikam”. Starring opposite Rajkummar Rao’s Nikam, Gabbi played his wife, Jyoti Nikam, who is also a mother to two grown-up children, played by Ritvik Sahore and Pranali Ghoghare. What makes this interesting is that to play this part, the “DC” actress sported light greys in her hair to match Rao’s portrayal of the 50-something public prosecutor. Several actresses have played older women on screen without actually undergoing the ageing.
Here’s a look at other instances across Indian cinema where actresses aged themselves for a character.
Shraddha Kapoor
The actress was barely 30 years old when she starred in “Haseena Parkar,” a film that chronicles the life of real-life gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister. As Haseena, Kapoor played mother to four children of various ages and was shown raising them over the years. In 2019, again, Kapoor aged on screen to play mother to a teenager and ex-wife opposite Sushant Singh Rajput’s character. Furthermore, for her upcoming film, “Eetha,” a Laxman Utekar-directed biopic of the legendary Maharashtrian Lavani and Tamasha artist Vithabai Narayangaonkar, Kapoor will once again be stepping into a similar role.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Chopra has done this twice, and both times, her performance has been unanimously commended. In 2015, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period epic “Bajirao Mastani,” she played the Peshwa’s first wife and mother to their two sons—the elder, almost 18-year-old Nanasaheb (Ayush Tandon) and the younger son, Raghunath. For “The Sky Is Pink” (2019), too, Chopra and her co-star, Farhan Akhtar, played parents to two young adults, played by a 22-year-old Rohit Saraf and an 18-year-old Zaira Wasim.
Vidya Balan
“The Dirty Picture” actress has played a mom on screen a couple of times, but the most unique entry in her filmography is also an industry anomaly. In R. Balki’s 2009 film, “Paa,” Balan played mother to Amitabh Bachchan’s character. The actor, 37 years her senior, was playing a character with progeria, and Balan played his mother opposite Bachchan’s real-life son, Abhishek. Although she didn’t have to age herself on screen for “Paa,” she got the chance to pull it off in the 2020 biopic “Shakuntala Devi,” in which she played the math genius who was called the Human Computer. Sanya Malhotra played her daughter.
Anushka Shetty
For SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus, “Baahubali,” while Prabhas reprised the roles of both father and son across the two parts, Anushka Shetty played Devasena, the princess of the Kuntala kingdom and the wife of Prabhas’s Amarendra Baahubali during the flashback. In “Baahubali: The Conclusion,” when Prabhas, as Mahendra Baahubali, finally takes on his true destiny, an aged-for-the-screen Shetty played the mother who long awaited his return to seek vengeance for her husband’s death from Rana Daggubati’s Bhallaladeva.
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Richa Chadha
Much like Shefali Shah in “Waqt,” Richa Chadha, too, sported the greys to play mother to the much older Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). The then 25-year-old actress played Nagma Khatoon, wife of Manoj Bajpayee’s Sardar Khan, while the 38-year-old Siddiqui played his younger son, Faizal Khan.
Simran
Just like “Baahubali,” the 2008 Tamil film “Vaaranam Aayiram” also followed a dual timeline where a son, played by Suriya, reminisces about his father (also played by Suriya) after the latter’s demise. In the film’s present-day timeline, Suriya’s mother was played by the actress Simran, who is in real life a year younger than him.
Kangana Ranaut
For her role as Indira Gandhi in the 2025 film “Emergency,” Kangana Ranaut sported the former Indian PM’s trademark salt-and-pepper hair. The film also explored Gandhi’s relationship with her sons, Sanjay and Rajiv.
Kajol
Kajol’s career graph has consistently seen her portray characters that have kept in sync with her off-screen age. A mother to two children herself, the actress has played one on-screen several times in films like “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” and “My Name Is Khan.” In fact, in films like “Salaam Venky,” “Helicopter Eela” and “Tribhanga,” Kajol has played mom on-screen to actors like Riddhi Sen and Mithila Palkar.
Tabu
Perhaps the most versatile on this list is Tabu, whose older roles have not just been limited to playing mothers on screen, but include age-gap romances also (Ishaan Khatter in “A Suitable Boy”). However, some of her most remarkable performances have been playing mothers on screen, like “The Namesake” (mother to Kal Penn’s Gogol), “Haider” (mother to Shahid Kapoor’s Haider), “Ala Vaikunthapurramaloo” (mother to Allu Arjun’s Bantu) or more recently, in “Drishyam”.
Nayanthara
The Lady Superstar has played mother to teenagers in films like the Tamil horror film “Connect” (2022), in which her daughter was played by Haniya Nafisa, and the action comedy “Visvaswam” (2019), in which her daughter was played by Anikha Surendran.
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