It’s been a macho year for Bollywood. The top three hits— War, Kabir Singh, Uri: The Surgical Strike—have fixated on aggressive, assertive men. Amidst hero-worshipping, an unlikely theme has emerged.
The upcoming films Bala and Ujda Chaman both deal with premature balding, lensed through the perspective of underconfident young men. Later in November arrives Farhad Samji’s Housefull 4, in which Akshay Kumar doubles as a bald prince. Accelerated hair loss formed the basis of another comedy-drama this year—Qasim Khallow’s Gone Kesh.
What has driven these filmmakers to engage with these subjects? Director Abhishek Pathak cited the Kannada film Ondu Motteya Kathe as an eye-opener. “I was blown away by Raj B Shetty’s film and wanted to adapt it in Hindi. I’ve often made fun of my friends, who are bald, without realising how they feel. Ujda Chaman makes a comment about how, as a society, we place importance on the appearance than on the character,” he says.
Rarely presented as protagonists, bald characters have frequently popped up in Hindi films. David Abraham Cheulkar, one of the first bald actors of India, appeared in over 110 films in his career. In the late 60s, Mehmood shaved his head and tickled audiences as a south Indian music teacher in Padosan. The portrayal spawned a comic stereotype, revisited by Rahul Bhat in the 2003 retread Nayee Padosan.
When not being deployed for gags, the bald head has served as a signifier of terminal illnesses, familial deaths, character seniority (Anupam Kher, when he debuted as an elderly man in Saaransh, was then just 28 years old) or villainy. Actors like MB Shetty, Bob Christo, Amrish Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rami Reddy and Saurabh Shukla have given Hindi cinema its meanest bald baldies. Recent iterations include Sanjay Dutt in Agneepath, Arjun Rampal in Ra.One and Paresh Rawal in Table No. 21.
On the evolution of bald protagonists, Niren Bhatt, the co-writer of Bala, says, “For the longest time, Hindi film protagonists were obsessed with being the hero. But the conventional notions of a Bollywood hero have started to change. I feel audiences have started connecting with films about real-life problems. They are bored with the hackneyed imagery of a perfect hero,” says Niren.
The first Hindi film on premature balding was Saurabh Shukla’s I Am 24 (2012). The romantic comedy follows Shubhendu Roy (Rajat Kapoor), a 42-year-old screenwriter who lost much of his hair at the age of 19 and has been single ever since.
The film had a webbed, superficial plot, and audiences had to wait around for Gone Kesh (2019) for a more in-depth exploration of the subject. Set in Siliguri, the film tells the story of Enakshi (Shweta Tripathi), a schoolgirl with an enhanced case of ‘alopecia areata’ or spot baldness.
“Women in India have it far more difficult. A girl with alopecia cannot step out of the house without being scrutinised or stared at. Marriage prospects are also jeopardised,” says Qasim.
The social anxiety and shame associated with baldness also extends to Bollywood. Rumours of transplants and wig-usage have long shrouded male stars. With the exception of Rajinikanth, Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Bose, few leading men have been publicly upfront about their scalps. And yet—as confirmed by celebrity dermatologist Apratim Goel—hair-related ailments are a stark reality in tinseltown.
“Celebrities live a stressful life. Common hair-related issues in celebs are frizzy dry hair, hair loss, alopecia areata, burnt or damaged hair due to hair treatments, premature greying of hair, and traction alopecia due to wigs and attachments,” he notes.
As Bala and Ujda Chaman head for a box-office clash in the first week of November, writer Niren and director Abhishek are hopeful their respective films will inspire a change. Qasim has already noticed a shift.
“Soon after the release of Gone Kesh, a girl from Mumbai send me message me on Instagram. Her fiancé was refusing to marry her because of her hair condition. However, after watching the film, he had a change of heart and they are now married.”