A moustache divide

A curious social phenomenon has gone largely unnoticed in India. Moustaches have slowly gone out of fashion with younger urban males in north India but not in the south where eight out of 10 males wear a moustache, irrespective of their background or social status. Are north Indian men copying Bollywood where no top star wears a moustache?
Perhaps yes, because a clean upper lip is the hallmark of Hindi film heroes - from the four Khans, Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir, and Saif, to Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar or Shahid Kapoor.In contrast, nearly all south Indian film stars wear a moustache, sometimes pencil-thin, mostly bushy.
A north-south moustache division has always existed in the Hindi and south Indian film industries. Even 40 years ago, a young Rajendra Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan or Shammi Kapoor never wore a moustache. But Tamil film star Shivaji Ganesan as well as Karnataka's Rajkumar did. In fact, moustaches in Hindi films were worn mostly by villains, rarely by heroes.
In south Indian films, however, a moustache sits on every male face - hero, villain, son-in-law, father-in-law, servant, or members of a crowd. It's incredible that a couple of dozen Hindi and south Indian film stars can influence millions of Indian males into keeping or not keeping a moustache.
But it's true. The impact of film stars is huge in a movie-crazy country like India. Just as Dil Chahta Hai popularised an Aamir Khan goatee and Tere Naam popularised a Salman Khan hairstyle, clean-shaven Bollywood heroes are driving away the moustache in north India while moustached south Indian stars are promoting them in the south. The only difference is that the Aamir goatee and Salman hairstyle are passing fashions. In contrast, the moustache's slow disappearance in the north but not in the south seems a permanent reality.
Film stars apart, there's another reason why moustaches are losing ground in north India but not in the south. International fashion trend has turned against the moustache in the last 25 years. Take India's male fashion models, who are mostly north Indians. None of them wears a moustache. Nor do male actors in Hindi film serials. In contrast, male actors invariably have a moustache in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam TV serials. Even among TV news anchors and presenters, many of them have a moustache in the south.
There is yet another reason why north and south India respond differently to the international fading of the moustache. It lies in their different history and geography. When it comes to food, dress or moustaches, south India is slower to absorb foreign influences because it's inward-looking and tradition-bound, thanks to a peaceful history that comes from being protected by an ocean on three sides. A moustache on a male face comes down centuries of tradition, so south India sees no reason to shed it.
In contrast, north India has an openness to change and a quick adaptability that comes from facing centuries of marauding invaders. So north India has been quick to reject a moustache because fashionable Europeans and Americans have discarded it. Far more north Indian families also give western nicknames to their children like Binny, Bunty, Tiny, Tony. South Indians stick to traditional nicknames like Thambi.
Coming back to moustaches, south India must be the only place outside Iraq and some other Arab kingdoms where a moustache is visible on so many male faces. But a moustache in south India doesn't denote status, movement, or sub-culture. In Iraq, men grew moustaches to look like Saddam Hussein. In south India, however, just about every adult male has foliage on his upper lip, whether he's a tycoon or coolie.
In north India, however, a moustache suggests a clear age and social divide. For instance, a lot of men older than 40 wear a moustache but not younger males. This is because an old notion of a moustache suggesting masculinity has faded in cities in the last 20 years. However, certain professions in India, such as the police and army, are still associated with a moustache.
The writer is a freelance journalist.