Bollywood’s lockdown beard diaries: To keep or not to keep!

Black and grey, thick and grizzled, patchy or stubble -- Bollywood actors caught amid the lockdown extensions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, are having their own beard moments. With salons and stylists being out of reach during the lockdown, actors such as Kartik Aaryan and Arjun Rampal took it upon themselves to go back to a cleaner look by shaving off their facial hair.

Arjun, who sought his partner Gabriella Demetriades’ help to shave off his thick beard, took to Instagram to share a video for fans.

After it was done, he was rather excited as he wrote, “All done, back to being civilised. Yay or Nay? #iseeme.”

When his celebrity hairstylist Aalim Hakim expressed surprise on the social media post, Rampal quipped, “Had to bro, didn’t have you looking after it for me.”

Aaryan, who reached out to his Instagram fans to poll for his “sexy or jungli” look, surprised them by getting rid of the fuzzy beard that he grew during quarantine, by sharing a quirky video.

Rajeev Sen, who has gone cleanshaven and shared his look, wrote: “Change is the only constant. #lockdown4.0 #whosaysidontlookhandsomeshaven.”

There are other actors who are still growing their beard, and perhaps contemplating what to do with it. For one, there’s Milind Soman, who pointed out his “question fatigue” on issues such as “what will life be like, will vaccines be mandatory... should I become a farmer”, during the pandemic. And so, he raised a “simple question”: “Beard ??? Or no beard ???” His wife Ankita Konwar was upfront: “A bearded farmer.”

Even Shahid Kapoor posted a funky video showcasing a his beard, and wrote: “Entering quarantine phase 4 be like.... @mira.kapoor can’t deal no more with me.” There’s also Riteish Deshmukh, who’s going grey with his hair and beard; Vicky Kaushal who’s bearded photographs on his social media page are winning hearts; Saif Ali Khan; and even Ranveer Singh, the actor who keeps experimenting with his looks one film after another, let his fans get a glimpse of his heavily bearded avatar in the lockdown during an Instagram live session.

Darshan Yewalekar, the man behind Singh’s in Ram-Leela, Padmaavat and Simmba, says he has been receiving several queries from his celebrity clients and regular ones too, about the right way to groom overgrown hair and beard. While he believes these are an “art” that a stylist acquires with years of experience and recommends that people should not take matters in their own hands even if they are itching to get cleaner looks. Yewalekar, however, suggests “use of water and a little oil to keep messy hair and beard in place for any video calls or conferences to keep it neat”, and says “men need to keep their facial hair hygienic and must oil and shampoo it time-to-time”.

Beauty expert Bharti Taneja notes that “even in the pre-lockdown times, male celebs were maintaining different bearded looks”, but once lockdown ends, she feels it will be better for them to get rid of their beard because not only will it be “more comfortable to wear a mask” but also more “hygienic”. Besides, even if the actors continue to have a beard, they won’t be able to flaunt them too well due to masks when they step out.

We wonder then if clean-shaven be the next style statement?