Cropped their locks for a role

Tresses are the most precious part of the glamour industry. But there are a few who are ready to take the risk, just to be true to the character

It's not always easy to be true to a role, especially if it requires a drastic physical change. And yet many actors have undertaken bold physical transformations to be true to a character.

While Shilpa Shetty managed with prosthetics when she had to shave her head off for a Buddhist monk's role in the Indo-Chinese film ‘The Desire’, Antara Mali went all the way and shaved her head for her monk's role in Amol Palekar's ‘And Once Again’. It's another matter that Antara'a dedication hasn’t been witnessed by anyone as yet, as the film lies in the cans.

So is it worth the effort to go all-out for a role? Here are eight actors who have done so:

Aamir Khan (‘Ghajini’): The striped head-shave which made Aamir look like an Irish punk was so cool. Aamir went around in the avatar for a good seven to eight months. When he was signed for the role, no one expected him to go so closely by the script, even if he was Aamir Khan.

Jake Gyllenhaal (‘End Of Watch’): Not completely bald... but close enough, Jake Gyllenhaal wanted that scruffy-head look for his role of a gritty cop. Off went the long tresses. He apparently liked his near-hairless look so much that he kept it going even after the shooting was over.

Salman Khan (‘Tere Naam’): Physical transformations, beards and wigs are a complete no-no for Salman. Satish Kaushik's ‘Tere Naam’ was an exception where Salman agreed to tonsure his head to look convincing as a tortured inmate in a mental asylum.

Arjun Rampal (‘Ra.One’): To play the villain, you've got to sacrifice your vanity. The Bollywood pin-up boy, Arjun, shaved off his head for the sup e r - hero film.

Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas (‘Water’): The film has an interesting history. Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi were to play widows on the ghats of Varanasi. But due to protests the film shut down. Then the cast changed to Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas in the two key roles. However, all four actresses shaved off their hair to play their roles. Dedication of this sort is exemplary in Bollywood.

Demi Moore (‘G.I. Jane’): As a cadet trying to compete with her male colleagues in the army, Demi Moore went all-out to look like one of them. She knocked off her feminine curves, shaved off h e r sexy tresses and blended perfectly. C a t e B l a n c h e t t (‘Heaven’): Playing a woman out to get revenge for her husband's death, Cate Blanchett sacrificed her hair to look like a no-nonsense woman on a mission where she had be m o r e m a c h o than the guys she had taken on. Cate refused prosthetics to look bald, and delivered a hair-raising performance.

Shahid Kapoor (‘Haider’): He didn't completely shave off his head, as planned. But director Vishal Bhardwaj has got chocolate-boy hero Shahid Kapoor to sport a close-cropped look for his Kashmiri character's role in the movie.

Sanjay Dutt (‘Agneepath’): When Sanjay Dutt agreed to play Kancha in Karan Malhotra's remake of the Bachchan classic ‘Agneepath’, the makers were sure they wanted this Kancha to be more intimidating than Danny Denzongpa in the original. The actor gladly agreed to shave his head for a very Frankenstein kind of diabolic look.