Love has no boundaries, except when you are celebrities. Then everyone has an opinion on your choice. In 2007 when Aishwarya Rai, got married to Abhishek Bachchan, four years her junior, eyebrows were raised. Many smirked that Rai was marrying a man who was not as successful in his career as she herself has been, especially when both his parents have been legends in their own leagues. It was touted that Aishwarya was ‘settling’ for Abhishek, after having dated Salman Khan, whose name itself sort of guarantees 100 crore at the box office.
A decade has passed since then and while the world has even moved to a state where people are identifying themselves as ‘age fluid’ (a state that age is a fluid concept and you could be whatever age you want to be), it is still outrageous if a woman marries a younger man. The concept of ‘age fluidity’ is ridiculous, and denigrating a woman for marrying a man slightly younger in age is equally asinine.
Priyanka Chopra, one of the most successful actors India has had in last decade and a half, announced her engagement to American singer-songwriter Nick Jonas. While Priyanka Chopra’s fans are excited and have welcomed her for her grand wedding, she faced flak for marrying Jonas, almost ten years her junior. She was mocked on Twitter and elsewhere and called a cradle-snatcher, people called her his ‘mother’, and jokes were aplenty.
When Jonas arrived in India last week for his upcoming wedding to Chopra on 2nd December, Priyanka posted an adorable picture of the two of them, very much in love, with a caption, “welcome home baby”, people were triggered. She was ‘age-shamed’ and trolled ruthlessly.
https://twitter.com/imJEESUS/status/1065587287679848449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
JEEJUS was really, really upset it seems. And of course, she did it for the green card.
https://twitter.com/nikilled/status/1065664680029491201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
All because two people in love decided to let the world know how happy they are. Because the woman in this love equation is a decade older than the man. Recently, we had seen how bhajan singer Anup Jalota was ridiculed for going public with his relationship with Jasleen, many years his junior, during the Bigg Boss show. How can Jalota fall in love with a younger girl, after all, he sings bhajans. How un-sanskari of him?
Since when did we stop celebrating love? Why do we have to be so cynical? Why can’t we just be happy that two people are in love and that it is none of our business to pass judgements on them? Why can’t we just let people be?
The only scenario in which the age difference between a man and a woman should be an issue is if either of the party is minor. When both the man and the woman are adults and decide to spend the rest of their lives together, why should that be anybody elses business?
For once, let us keep our cynicism aside and just enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling called love.