Is realism in vogue in Bollywood?

Amitabh Bachchan cannot understand what the fuss about him shaving off his beard for a role is. "I will have to shave off my beard for the roles of a police officer in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Khaki and an armyman in Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya. My characters in these two films will sport a moustache for these two roles."

Earlier, eyebrows were raised when the Big B played Lord Indra with a beard in Agni Varsha. "That was just a day's work which I did for director Arjun Sajnani who is an old friend. This time, there is no way out."

Since there might be a continuity problem regarding his other assignments, a portion of the two projects might have to be done with trimming and camouflaging. Says Bachchan, "I don't know what the schedules of the two films are like. I suppose I can work my way around them to ensure the continuity doesn't suffer in my other films."

It raises an interesting point. We often hear of Hollywood actors practising method acting. Robert de Niro constantly changes his physical appearance including his girth to suit his characters. Tom Hanks did it in Cast Away. Not often do we hear of Bollywood actors walking that extra mile for authenticity in their roles.

Years ago Shabana Azmi added 40 kilos to play the owner of a brothel in Shyam Benegal's Mandi. Three years ago, Shabana went all out for Deepa Mehta's aborted Water for which both Nandita Das and she got their heads shaved to play Hindu widows.

Says Akshay Kumar, "For years, I played this long-haired cop in dozens of movies. Now for the first time, I play an authentic cop in Madhur Bhandarkar's Aan where I have my hair cut short like real life cops."

For Raj Kanwar's Andaz, which opens in April, Akshay changed his look, streaked his hair blonde and got rid of hair on his limbs to look lithe. And for the role of tyrannical jailor in Akhand, Akshay intends to change his look completely. "From now on, I will do one film,one character and a different look each time," he promises.

He sported the beefy, menacing look in Aalavandhan. We next saw him slouching and scarred in his latest release Anbesivam. Kamal Haasan is reputed to change his look for every role.

The problem in Bollywood is that actors with half-a-dozen assignments on the floors simultaneously can ill afford the luxury of transforming their looks. Years ago, Rajesh Khanna had to grow a beard for the convict's role in B R Chopra's Ittefaq. The same beard kept coming and going in Do Raaste which was shot simultaneously.

The urge to get into character is no longer restricted to actors from the offbeat/realistic cinema. More and more mainstream actors are willing to bend to achieve a means to an end. For his role on Ram Gopal Verma's Bhoot Fardeen Khan has grown a goatee, "because that's what my character required," he argues.

For Varma's earlier films Rangeela and Company, Aamir Khan and Vivek Oberoi remained unkempt for days to look convincing in their street-smart roles.For a drunken sequence in Dharmesh Darshan's Raja Hindustani, Aamir Khan slugged a whole bottle of Scotch, though he is a teetotaler in real life. For Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, Shah Rukh Khan remained slightly sozzled all through to remain convincingly in character.

Is realism finally in vogue in mainstream Hindi cinema?