India, Dec. 19 -- The Hindi film industry has often been criticised for its gender bias in its working. While actor Ranveer Singh's (40) recent release Dhurandhar has worked wonders at the box office, it also faced criticism for his pairing opposite a much-younger, 20-year-old actor Sara Arjun. Actor Shefali Shah, who played mother to actor Akshay Kumar, who was older to her, in Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), agrees to industry's different gender norms for men and women.

"It should not be the norm, but sadly, our industry is about 'hero, heroine, villain' and hero has to be whatever number of years actually, but heroine has to only be between 18 to 25. That is very important. She can't age. She has a shelf life," she says, adding, "...