Shilputsi Consultants

Shilputsi in the News
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In new ageist India, old is no longer gold - The Sunday Times: November 1, 2003

Radha Rajadhyaksha and Shabnam Minwalla
Times News Network

MUMBAI: “Hats off to Shobha Kapoor who was clear that she didn’t want to make a serial about old people.’’—A peripheral TV actor explaining why the characters in ‘Kyonki.. Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ haven’t aged despite a 20-year leap in the soap.

“The average age of my group was 55 when I took over. Now I am happy to say that three-fourths of my employees are below 44.’’—Kumarmangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla group, at a recent awards ceremony.

“This is just one of the many passenger-friendly measures we are trying to introduce.’’ —Rajiv Pratap Rudy, civil aviation minister, on why young air-hostesses are more desirable. Welcome to the new ageist India where an executive starts dreading redundancy at 40 and where a TV actress begins playing mother to grown-up kids at 29. Be it a talcum powder ad or the corridors of a corporate office, the subliminal message being beamed is clear— older people don’t exist any more.

“It’s a post-globalisation, western phenomenon,’’ says psychiatrist Dayal Mirchandani, who maintains that technology has been responsible to a large extent.

“Older people are not tech-savvy, which is a prerequisite of many jobs today. And with the corresponding culture shift, wisdom is no longer valued.’’ M L Shrikant, director of the S.P. Jain Institute of Management Studies, says this is, to an extent, inevitable. “New age industries need new age people,’’ he says.

“Also, with the dramatic post-liberalisation rise in salaries,many senior people just become unaffordable.’’ In ruthlessly profit-driven times, it is also convenient to bring in younger and more energetic people who can slave 15-hour days and produce more bang for the corporate buck.

Interestingly, even the definition of ‘young’ and ‘old’ has undergone a sea change over the last ten years. In the dotcom age, even 27 was considered past-it, and today, many professions allow for ten years more at the most.

“Advertising and marketing led this trend,’’ says adman Prahlad Kakkar. “We realised long ago that this is where the surplus wealth is and our ads targeted this section. And the rest of the media followed.’’

With youngsters’money fuelling images in advertisements, soaps and even the print media, the ludicrously lopsided emphasis on youth becomes inevitable.

The TV accent on youth has to be seen to be believed,’’ says actress Lovleen Mishra, whose 34-year-old colleague is set to play mother to a 20-year-old in a forthcoming serial.

“TV audiences who are fed these images in soaps and ads are the ones who travel Air-India and who will agree with the aviation minister on the need for young air-hostesses. They’re so swamped by reel images that they feel short-changed if they don’t get them in real life. Thanks to the visual media, we’re becoming audiences first and consumers later.’’

The effects of this market-led culture on the ‘new old’ are alarming— emotional vulnerability, a sense of expendability at an increasingly younger age and a stampede in the Botox and HRT direction.

“People are feeling bad about themselves, their bodies, at a younger and younger age,’’ says Dr Mirchandani. “It’s a worrying phenomenon.’’ Is the phenomenon here to stay? Purvi Sheth of Shilputsi, a head-hunting agency, feels things could change.

“We are in the process of regaining a balance,’’ she says. “Although the herd belief in ‘theyounger-the-better’ does exist, there is the beginning of a realisation that managing and leadership also require experience. It’s not just the traditional companies that see this—even young outfits are looking for senior people to come in as mentors and fill the vacuum with their experience and maturity.’’

Even the myopic marketing brigade may be forced to acknowledge this world view sooner rather than later. For, with demographic shifts indicating an imminent explosion in the 50 to 70 age group, the ‘grey’ market will soon come into its own as it has in Western countries.

And once this happens, could we please expect the Balaji mothers-in-law to put some chalk powder in their hair?