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Image stylists are the new heroes, who prepare the look of the much-adored style icons
GONE are the days of glorified barbers and tailors who called themselves "hairstylists" and "costume designers," respectively. Today, they have reinvented themselves as "image stylists" and Bollywood is paying them a bomb to retain their services. So characters are now defined as ethnic, glam, retro or funk and accordingly given a "look" that starts with the hairstyle and covers everything from clothes, accessories, attitude and accent. It is the package deal that an image stylist offers and all an actor has to do is follow his dictates and slip into the skin of a character. Thus, Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor got themselves dipped in Aalim Hakim’s peroxide for Musafir while Aamir Khan allowed Adhuna Akhtar to work on his tousled 25-year-old look in Rang De Basanti. For Veer-Zaara, Dilshad Pastaka worked on Shah Rukh Khan’s psychedelic streaks and gave Preity Zinta a "cross-border" look.
But then, there can be no mistaking the influence of Hollywood in the new look of Hindi film characters. "Stars are becoming savvy," concedes Aalim, who is giving Vivek Oberoi a crop of tobacco tinge for Shyam Bajaj’s next film. "They bring cuttings from fashion magazines and want to ape Brad Pitt’s looks in the Fight Club." That’s not all. Raghavendra Rathore is now giving Amitabh Bachchan a designer look for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Yagna and Dilhad’s comb will further work on John Abraham’s rebounded Dhoom look. Manish Malhotra will style two distinct looks for Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee in Karan Johar’s yet-to-be-launched, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. These services do not come cheap. While Dilshad charges between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000 for haircuts and highlights, Aalim demands Rs 15,000 for a day’s commercial. Stars like Aishwarya Rai, who insist on Mickey Contractor, put the producer down by Rs 10,000 a day. The latter’s bills for Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai reportedly ran into several millions! — MF |
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