~*~FAK AT 15 - Welcome FAK as the Golden Heart Asher~*~

The return of the romantic hero
Kishwar Desai

INDIAN audiences and, indeed, the Indian film industry, have been thrown into confusion by the arrival of one actor from across the border, Fawad Khan. Will we Indians now have to redefine, if not our borders, then at least our current concept of male beauty, thanks to Fawad's non-muscular physique and all-natural good looks? As thousands of screaming women fans will testify, Fawad Khan through the film "Khubsoorat" is giving a serious challenge to our Bollywood hunks, emphasising the return of the romantic hero. And this time it is clearly the women who are taking the lead in deciding whom they consider charismatic and beautiful'.

Pakistan actor Fawad Khan is now quite the rage in India too.

The startling impact of yet another (though very different) Khan makes one wonder why women in India had for the past few decades abdicated their responsibility to decide what are the attributes of male sumptuousness? Why had we allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of beauty customisation'? Our irregularities and warts are what make us stand out, and the concept of what is eye candy' for women can never have a one-size-fits-all formula. Apart from that, one wonders whether we, as Indian women, are really attracted to aggressive, macho men? And yet it was the Akshay Kumars and Salman Khans who, with their boringly rippling muscles, had dominated the popular imagination for the past few decades.

While Miss Universe and Miss World competitions currently set the standards' for women, men have contests where they are usually ranked according to their sculpted bodies. While women need that hourglass figure as well as a gorgeous face, the competitions for men are quite content to focus on their muscular attributes. It is the Greek notion of male beauty celebrated in Michelangelo's David (incidentally, it does have six pack' abs!) that had begun to dominate the Indian imagination. Or was it just a secret conspiracy by gym equipment manufacturers?

It's a body image quite contrary to our own ancient sculptures and paintings (of which we have a long tradition) in which women are decidedly voluptuously endowed (though narrow waisted) but it is the men who are rather skinny and decidedly non-muscular. In fact, I would go so far as to say that our epitome of attractive men, taken largely from mythology, had earlier been based on the sylph like figures of Ram or Krishna. Perhaps these notions were set in the past few centuries by the great artist, Raja Ravi Verma, but even in the earlier schools no sculpture and painting demonstrated an obsession with muscular physiques. Our heroes always tended to be rather slim, and with slightly feminine looks.

Are we, in a post-Fawad world, ready to reset our measure for male attractiveness?

Driven by testosterone, men obviously still think that only men should judge what should be appreciated in other men. Thus instead of reading books, or reciting poetry to us, they spend all their time in sweaty gyms trying to design a body that they think we will be enraptured by. And right now we even have a childish competition between our male actors on the internet, where they are egging each other on to show their six or eight or 10-pack abdominal muscles. Don't they realise Indian women no longer want pure brawn?

Boys, we should tell them, can you stop sweating, and please calm down! Can we, women of India, tell you what we find delightful? Just look at this perfect specimen' that has appeared on the horizon!

And yes, he is the most khubsoorat' part of the eponymous film, with the heroine Sonam Kapoor paling into the background. Fawad Khan is suddenly India's heartthrob with millions of Indian women happily spending three hours in a dark auditorium in the arms of a screen hero who never sheds his clothes or even looks like he knows how to lift weights or use a treadmill. What a relief! When Sonam Kapoor admires his long eyelashes, or confesses to lusting after him (onscreen) she is probably echoing the words of Fawad fans, who see in him the return of the romantic' era, when women were called chaudvin ka chaand' and treated gently. The last we saw this phenomena was in the Seventies with the rise of another narrow-shouldered romantic hero, Rajesh Khanna.

And how refreshing was that! So while Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh appear to have reconstructed' their faces and bodies into perfectly toned and sculpted flesh, all artificial to the extreme, we have been struck by an au naturel Pakistani package. The irony, of course, is that it has taken an actor from Pakistan to remind us of the importance of love and romance! Physical boundaries might always exist, but Indian and Pakistani women have now found a new reason to bond.

Few other articles on Fawad mania.😛

falling for Fawad-

http://www.abplive.in/movies/2014/09/26/article407157.ece/Falling-for-Fawad-Heres-why-Fawad-Khan-is-our-new-eye-candy#.VDK6sznrZy0

Lovely interview on TheHindu

the dude next door-

http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-dude-next-door/article6422502.ece

a very sensible piece from a journo whom I like and follow- Puja Talwar of Ndtv -

For the love of Fawad khan- why am I fan?

http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/blog-for-the-love-of-fawad-khan-why-im-a-fan-667768

Rapid Fire with #FawadKhan in this week's Masala mag!

http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/fawad-khan-the-man-of-every-girls-dream_1483086.html

Why the Fawad Khan fever refuses to die down

What is it about him that has made Indian women across all age groups gush about him.

Share

Previous

Next

FILM

| 4-minute read | 13-10-2014

Suhani Singh

@suhani84

It has been more than three weeks since Khoobsurat released (September 19) and the romantic comedy is still running in theatres. At least here in Mumbai. It is an impressive feat given thatBang Bang and Haider released on October 2 and took a chunk of box office share.

How did a film, made on a budget of Rs 12 crore with an opening in 850 plus screens in India, collect Rs 25 plus crore in two weeks, outscoring Daawat-e-Ishq in process? Or the question on everyone's mind is what one Jose Mourinho infamously asked - while complaining about referee/UEFA bias towards FC Barcelona - "Por que?"

Why?

Sonam Kapoor and the film's producer Rhea Kapoor have one person to thank - Fawad Khan. And so full of gratitude they are to their leading man that he has been signed for another film to be produced by Rhea, starring her older sister, Sonam - Battle for Bittora, an adaptation of Anuja Chauhan's book.

The mere mention of Fawad Khan's name elicits a range of reactions among women. Wide eyes, rosy cheeks, toothy smiles, heavy sighing, the list goes on. Girlfriends unabashedly admit that the sole reason why they are running to theatres twice, sometimes thrice, to see what is a fluffy, feel-good film is to drool at the sight of Fawad Khan. The scene in which Khan's shirt is off for a tiny second and his bare, slightly hairy chest is seen has reportedly drawn "awws" and "ooohs" in the theatre. We are not making this up.

Once again. Why? What is it about Fawad Khan that has made the Indian female population across all age groups (Confession: My 50-something mother is a fan) gush about him.

There are various factors to note:

1) Handsome men on Indian small screen have been a rarity. When Khan was first seen inZindagi Gulzar Hai on Zindagi, the housewives, long fed on unending saas-bahu shows featuring ordinary looking men, suddenly found themselves wondering not where can I buy that jhumka or sari from but where can I find a man/husband as hot as Fawad Khan? Answer: Across the border.

2) Offer "Fawad fever" in small doses. Unlike Hindi TV shows, which are dragged endlessly,Zindagi Gulzar Hai ran for only 25 episodes, making TV audiences, ahem mostly women, hungry for more of the dishy actor. (Husbands and boyfriends now know that they will be ignored when a Fawad show is on.) After the show ended, Zindagi aired the promo of telefilm Behadd on loop, in process teasing and testing the patience of the audience. As soon as Khoobsurat neared its release date, the channel began airing the promo of one of his most popular shows, Humsafar. The strategy of always having Fawad on air is clever. It keeps audience sated.

3) There's no one quite like him in Bollywood. The truth is that there is a dearth of irresistible heroes (Think: Ryan Gosling) who can act well and are happy to star in a chick-flick. Actors here have not been game for being swooned over for their good looks. The guidelines to pass off as an attractive hero in the Hindi film industry include bronzed bodies, ten-pack abs and bulging biceps. What makes Fawad Khan appealing is that he is strikingly real and beautifully normal. It helps that he looks dapper in both Western and Indian wear. For a change, it's nice to have a hero who doesn't look capable of beating up ten men at a go. It's an entirely different matter that girls most probably don't want Fawad Khan getting into fights and ruin his face. Khan's lanky self is enough to want him.

4) It's all in the eyes. Few actors can say a lot with their eyes alone. Khan is one of the few who knows how to kill with the way he looks. Zindagi milks this asset of his. For instance, theHumsafar trailer features wordless shots in which Khan simply looks: to admire a woman secretly from the corner of his eye, in anger, to suggest a hint of a smile (you have to earn a Fawad smile as Khoobsurat proves), and intensely enough to make you go weak in the knees.