Hair, moustaches and bald heads

In the old days, hair was an obsession with not just the leading men in the movies but with their fans as well. In the world of Bengali movies produced in Calcutta, there was Uttam Kumar's hairstyle to be emulated or, in a plain manner of speaking, copied. Close your eyes for an instance and think back on Bishwajit, father of Prosenjit. He acted in both Bengali and Hindi movies. Not much of a good actor in comparison with his contemporaries, he nevertheless sported a hairstyle that was a clear copy of Uttam Kumar. And here in Dhaka, if you recall the young Razzak pursuing his many leading ladies in his many movies, you will perhaps remember that he too wore his hair a la Uttam. For quite a few of his fellow actors as also for his fans, Uttam Kumar was more than an artiste. He was a statement.

But there were also thespians who had little need to emulate others where hair was the issue. In his time, Pakistan's Waheed Murad was known as the country's chocolate cream hero. His hair came in a charming pattern, covering nearly his entire forehead. You had the feeling that either glue or some special cream held his hair in place. That made the girls swoon over him. As for the boys, many of them copied the style and proudly showed it off. Then came Nadeem, who instantly shot to fame with Chakori. He had his own style and so did Mohammad Ali. Of course, it was a wig that Ali wore; and he wore it so well that no one could tell it was a wig. Schoolboys imagined themselves in his place as he went wooing all the beautiful damsels in the movies.
There was too, for some actors, the moustache factor. Usually in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cinema, you do not have moustachioed leading men. But then, there was Azim in Bangladesh, Kamal in Pakistan and Raj Kapoor in India. Kapoor's early film performances were unabashed copies of Charlie Chaplin, down to the last detail of the moustache. In turn, Pakistan's Kamal sported a Raj Kapoor-like moustache and even seemed to relish resembling the Indian. Azim of course was his own man.
Some moustaches on movie men have become part of celluloid history, though. Omar Sharif in Dr. Zhivago is an instance here. And, of course, there was the inimitable Clark Gable with his pencil-thin moustache. And if you are wondering about bald heads in the movies, think of Yul Brynner and Telly Savalas.

The writer is Executive Editor of  The Daily Star