Of late, a lot of male actors are flaunting facial hair on-screen. Be it for showing dominance, or being authoritative, or just looking good on-screen, these actors have brought back the trend of mustaches and beards, and they all agree that it makes them look more manly on the telly. From Sharad Malhotra to Rrahul Sudhir. So here are a few actors. They are sporting mustaches and beards on the reel, have to say about the importance of facial hair in acting, read on:
Actors share the importance of facial hair in acting:
Sudhanshu Pandey, who plays Vanraj Shah in “Anupamaa”:
For me, a mustache and beard signify one’s identity. It’s a very personal choice to have a mustache and a beard or both, and sometimes you keep it just so that you look like a man. But I think it has nothing to do with manliness. If your heart is strong, then nothing else matters. They do represent dominance and aggression but only on-screen because invariably this happens that if you want to show a man who is aggressive or villainous, they give him a mustache or a beard to make him look a little more dominant. But in real life, I don’t think it’s that. Aggression and dominance are part of one’s nature, beard, or no beard.
I completely agree that not everyone can carry a mustache or a beard because it has to suit your style. It has to suit your face. Also, it has to suit your personality. So, it’s very important that if you keep a mustache or a beard then it has to compliment your personality. Your physicality only then one should keep it. Personally, in terms of convenience, I prefer being clean-shaven because keeping a beard and a mustache is a task to maintain. The character of Vanraj has been given a mustache because I think they wanted me to look older than my age as that is the character that I am playing, I have grown up boys in the show. So, if I don’t keep a mustache we will probably look like brothers. So that was the channel’s creative call, and I think it worked well.
Sharad Malhotra, seen as Veeranshu Singhania in “Naagin 5”:
Facial hair makes you look very manly. It makes you look very macho. Also, it adds a lot of intensity to your personality. It gives you a certain amount of weight. I am not taking away the fact that clean-shaven people are not taken seriously. It’s not that, because I have been clean-shaven for the maximum part of my life, and people have taken me very seriously and have loved it. But now, it’s just that people are getting to see a very different side of mine with the facial hair. It was demanding for the character as well. People somewhere connected, and they related. Off-screen also people have accepted and appreciated my bearded look.
So, by the grace of God, things just fell into place and I am personally loving the look now. I grew a mustache for my character of Maharana Pratap, which was also very manly. I remember people used to tell me that it looks very macho. Moreover, I think boys are good, but people probably want to see men. You don’t want to see the boy-next-door every time.
But having said that, I am loving this new rustic, grungy look with my facial hair. During the lockdown, my hair and beard grew. And so, when I went to meet the creatives of the show. And we sketched out a character, we thought that the beard and mustache easily go with the character. It makes him look very macho, very manly, and very evil at the same time, and it would have been difficult to show all that in a clean-shaven look.
Shehzada Dhami, who was seen in “Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka”:
Facial hair is something that anyone can keep, but it doesn’t suit everyone. Also, not everyone can carry it. One should always opt for a look that suits their face. For me, I think it went quite well with my face, and though I have trimmed it now, I can keep it again whenever I like.
On TV, I feel if someone keeps a mustache and a beard. Either they are always sad, or they are like an angry young man. That’s the image that has been created. But it depends totally on your expression. Off-camera I love carrying a mustache and a beard. But being an actor, I need to change and experiment with my looks too so that the audience sees my different versions. For ‘Yehh Jadu Hai Jinn Ka,’ they were looking for a character who had a mustache and a beard, and I fit the bill.
Rrahul Sudhir, who essays Vansh in “Ishq Mein Marjawan 2”:
I honestly don’t feel that a beard or a mustache signifies anything. As far as dominance and aggression is concerned, facial hair has nothing to do with it. It comes from between your ears and nowhere else. Although aggression as a word has a slightly negative connotation attached to it. I don’t associate it with being a man. Also, I would rather say assertive. I agree that we are too consumed with our ideas about looking good or not. If nature didn’t differentiate then who are we. Every man can grow a beard and mustache. Off-screen, it is generally a beard because I am too lazy to shave but on-screen, I want to be without a beard at least for now.
Avinash Mukherjee, seen as Soham Singh in “Shakti – Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki”:
I think mustaches and beards have become a trend now because everyone is doing it. It has become more stylish and accepted in mainstream entertainment. It looks good, and men, women, and girls appreciate it. I don’t think they represent dominance or aggression because they represent a little bit of gravity, a little bit of maturity, and it gives a little bit of shape to your entire personality, and your face looks good with it. I think every man can carry a beard, and if not, that they can carry a mustache. And some older men even carry a French beard as well, so I think a beard looks good on everybody.
Off-screen, I prefer a little bit of stubble. The show that I am doing ‘Shakti…’ I needed a beard for that and I was really happy because I was not very keen on being clean-shaven because of two things It’s a lot of work to keep shaving every day and secondly, even with a light beard your face has a definite cutting, and it looks cleaner and sharper. But keeping a beard, if it’s not groomed, then it doesn’t look very good. So, make sure you do that every two-three days.
Hiten Tejwani, the eldest of the four brothers in “Gupta Brothers”:
Male protagonists are indeed flaunting mustaches and beards on-screen. It also depends on where the story is based. Our story is based in Banaras, and in families there, if you have someone older, then the mustache gives him that feeling of authority. And my character Shiv Narayan Gupta is the eldest one in the family, and it goes well with his position in the family. To a certain extent, they represent dominance and aggression, but it depends on a character. When we went to Banaras, we visited a lot of houses there.
We saw many elders in the family sporting mustaches, and now even they are following the trend and growing beards. Not everyone can carry a mustache and a beard. It has to suit your face also and depending on that you need to style it. You need to keep the length. Also, you have to see what suits your face the best. Off-screen, I would love to grow a beard. But my character only has a mustache. So, I am keeping it like that. It was ok to wear a mustache for the show because the whole idea is to look like the character. I have done this earlier also, but this time I have grown a mustache.
So, this was all about the importance of facial hair in acting by your favorite celebs. Stay tuned to Bollywood Hush.
