Do you wonder where have Simran, Meena, Gauthami, Revathi, Devyani and other such Tamil actresses have disappeared? You can find them on television, campaigning for political parties but they just are not found on the big screen anymore? Why? Here is the secret. They have become victims of an inevitable but very deadly disease. These Tamil Movie stars have become old.

That is right. Old. No cure for that disease. The only option open for the director is to throw them out. This is not a new trend. Tamil actresses have been relegated to ‘sister-mother’ roles when they cross their saleable date. This date occurred when they began to look their age or when the got married. Tamil movie directors have always been wary of using married Tamil actresses despite the fact that the audience has never had a problem with a married male star.

In the past, Tamil movie heroines had no option but to retire. Today, they have the option of joining television where they can use their star appeal to attract more viewers to television serials. Of course, this is a big fall for heroines who used to be sex symbols and now can only be the goody goody serial heroine (unless the Director wishes to introduce an evil twin for a short period).

Criticism of the manner in which Tamil movie industry treats its aging Tamil Actresses is even more glaring when one notices actresses like Meryl Streep still getting plum roles in big movies. It is not as if the actresses were terrible at acting and were used only to add glamour value to their films. There are innumerable films where the heroines mentioned above have gone beyond the ‘eye candy’ requirement and have done great work on screen. Sadly, all is forgotten as they become old and are deemed to be unmarketable by directors.

OK so you are wondering who the Meryl Streep of Tamil Films is? Right you guessed it there is none, how sad…