Those limpid, liquid eyes. That sensitive, diffident mouth that could brood and sulk, and yet break out in a smile that made hearts stop. That loose, long-limbed elegance in a simple crumpled kurta-pyjama. Those long, tapering fingers. Soumitra Chatterjee, actor extraordinaire who passed away on Sunday, was also a beautiful man. No wonder the maestro Satyajit Ray, himself drop-dead gorgeous, chose him in 14 of his films.
Despite Adonis and David, male beauty somehow never gets the footage it deserves the world over, and for this feel free to put patriarchy in the dock. Men have forever been cast in the role of subjects who objectify women. They’re so busy being checking out women that they miss embracing their own beauty. It’s an extension of the “boys don’t cry” culture. Obviously, men admire themselves in the mirror (Narcissus made it his full-time career), but few accept they do. In a testosterone-charged universe, you praise a man for his abs and he’ll grin, say he looks sexy when shirtless and you clearly are pushing the right buttons, baby. So far, it’s all strength and virility, the hotness factor. But praise him for his long eyelashes or full lips and he’ll flip, even if he’s an avowed metrosexual. Male beauty is unfamiliar territory.
Bengal’s screen superstar Uttam Kumar, a decade older than Soumitra, was just as swoon-worthy. Uttam Kumar had limpid eyes, a full laughing mouth accentuated by the cleft in his chin, broad shoulders that made any suit look yum. Oh, objectification red alert?
But men can be beautiful, and deserve to be celebrated for it. Think Elvis Presley’s rosebud mouth, Shashi Kapoor’s and Ryan Gosling’s perfect faces, Salman Khan’s eyes, Idris Elba’s powerhouse smile. Ranveer Singh, a rare Bollywood mainstream hero who can carry off a skirt and a man bun, has beautiful lips. Richard Gere in his youth was a pretty boy with an aching vulnerability, Denzel Washington’s face is sculpted to perfection. Daniel Craig’s blue eyes, Leonardo DiCaprio’s jawline, Shah Rukh Khan’s dimples, Akshay Kumar’s nose…the list can just go on.
It’s not about movie stars alone. Think Albert Einstein’s eyes, Bjorn Borg’s or Zakir Hussain’s hair.
With that killer smile, Roger Federer could easily play 007. And no matter what one’s politics is, no one can deny the “face value” of JFK, Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau, Rajiv Gandhi and Imran Khan.
How do men handle their beauty? Well, some are terrified to fall into the dumb blond trap that they’ve set for women. While men don’t scoff at beauty and many are prepared to spend big money in its pursuit as the thriving market for men’s grooming products, clothes and accessories proves, there’s always a catch. Even if genetically blessed, beautiful men can’t afford to be beautiful alone. Thanks to the hunter-gatherer stereotype, there’s always the pressure to be known for their brains and brawn.
In fact, even Soumitra had once famously declared that he was the ugly duckling of his family, which pushed him to focus on his craft.