Moustache in vogue

Just as we thought that moustache was passé in Bollywood, it is making a comeback through cops in films. Whether Salman Khan’s moustache contributed to the box office triumph of Dabang is debatable. But what cannot be denied is that it gave altogether different look to the superstar. A moustached Ajay Devgan also reaped success in Singham . Now Aamir Khan is all set to woo the audience as a cop flaunting a moustache in Talaash.

In between Abhishek Bachchan in Dum Maro Dum and John Abraham in the remake of Khaka Khaka kept moustaches to project a tough look. Either it is cop or just a ordinary man like Sharuk Khan in Rab Ne Dana Di Jodi or Saif Ali Khan in Arakshan. Shahid Kapoor sported one for his role as pilot in Mausam as well. The sudden craze for moustaches on screen is surprising. One wonders whether Salman Khan revived the moustache trend. Will we see more actors showing off their moustaches in real life? Now very few like Abhishek Bachchan has some faith in the hair on the upper lip though he often combines it with a stubble.

South Indian films, particularly Mollywood, where majority of actors still grow it, may be an exception. I think that the faces of south Indian heroes are so structured that they look better with moustaches. I’m leaving out newcomers some of whom like Surya or Prithviraj, for instance, look good with or without it.

Time was when moustache had power in films. A comedian, adventurer, romantic hero, ruthless villain – all took pride in sporting moustache in Hollywood. Imagine Charlie Chaplin without his trademark toothbrush moustache or Peter Sellers minus moustache as inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther.

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler with his dapper moustache swept Vivien Leigh off her feet in Gone With The Wind. Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn and David Niven were moustached swashbucklers in many films. Yes, moustache was so cool in the golden era of Hollywood that most leading men kept it off screen too.

Till the fag end of twentieth century every decade had a popular hero in Hindi films sporting a moustache. The producer or director did not ask them to shave it off. In the fifties Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt and Pradeep Kumar courted heroines with a moustache. The trend continued in the sixties with Kishore Kumar, Raj Kumar. When the angry young man blazed the screen, moustached Shatrughan Sinha, Randhir Kapoor and Rakesh Roshan tried to be different. Moustaches were hot with Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Raj Kiran going for the hirsute appeal in the eighties. Interestingly, most villains had moustaches over the years. A few like Suresh Oberoi and Kiran Kumar did keep their moustaches when not under the arc lights

But once the nineties started, it seems, moustache lost its charm. Cute faced chocolate heroes began flooding the screens. Clean shaven looks were trendy. In this age of metrosexuals, moustache is no longer macho. Stubble is in vogue. Off screen craze for clean shaven look gets reflected in the screen as well.

In Hollywood, moustache tradition continues through black actors now. The white actors rarely go for it now unless the character demands it. In the early days, two of the greatest stars -Clark Gable and Errol Flynn- had permanent moustaches that really defined their screen appeal. Carrying on from them, Omar Sharif, Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck enhanced the macho pull of the moustaches.

Omar hails from Egypt and cannot be categorized as a white actor. Unlike in Hollywood, the films in Asia and in parts of Europe encouraged men with whiskers. Many Iranian and Mexican actors have moustaches. Italian Franco Nero with macho moustache and blue eyes acted in some popular action movies in English. Rugged Charles Bronson, hawk eyed Lee Van Cleef and action hereo Chuck Norris did not shave their moustaches for acting.

Among the present lot Johnny Depp, Ryan Gosling of The Notebook fame and veteran actor Gene Hackman prefer moustached visages. Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Samuel Jackson and Eddie Murphy, all black actors, have developed a fondness for moustaches. They sometimes grow beard too. Anyway, they keep the interest in moustaches alive.

Amid chiseled faces with firm jaw lines, a well maintained moustache brings in variety and perks up the interest of the audience. Robert Redford and Paul Newman never lost their charm when they grew moustaches for specific roles. In fact it only added to their appeal.

Here’s wishing three cheers to moustaches

Revival of Female Solos

Are Malayalam films witnessing a rebirth of female solos through Shreyal Ghosal ? It appears so. We are getting good solo songs by female playback singers these days. And most of them are by Shreya.

For a long time one had felt that music composers had forgotten that women too can sing solos. Or may be the hero-oriented films didn’t have such situations. So it was male solos, duets or group songs and rarely ladies got a chance to croon in films in the last few years. I should say it is no different in Hindi movies

This has been most evident since the year 2000. Just jog your memory and count how many stand out female solos from last decade can you remember? The ones that easily come to mind are the couple by Chitra from the movie `Nandanam’ tuned by the late Ravindran.

It was not like this in Malyalam films. Right from the sixties, P Leela, S Janaki, P Susheela, Madhuri and Vani Jayaram had given us countless memorable solo melodies that have become classics. Curiously, only P Leela among these was a Malayali. In the eighties, the baton was passed on to K S Chitra and later to Sujata. After that there has been a drought.

Not that we don’t have good singers. The likes of Manjari, Gayathri and promising Shweta are comparable with the best in music business. Chitra and Sujata are still capable of rendering good songs. Yet, music composers are reluctant to make them sing solo numbers often. In the eighties and nineties, their singing skills were tested by the difficult songs composed by Ravindran, Johnson, Bombay Ravi, Vidyasagar etc.

In the last couple of years, the arrival of Shreya Ghosal to Malayalam films seems to have restored confidence in music directors to go for female solos. I think the song `Chanthu thottille’ from movie Benaras was the turning point. M Jayachandran has been consistently using Shreya’s voice and now other music composers too have taken a liking for her voice. May be her success in Hindi and other languages influenced the thoughts of music composers here. Her popularity has soared after her songs in Anwar. Last year she sang good solos in Rathinirvedam, Pranayam, Salt and Pepper and Veerputhran.

My earnest hope is that Shreya’s success will rub off on other singers as well. If it happens, then the golden age of female solos will once again return.