When Megastar Chiranjeevi appeared with a tonsured head a couple of days back, everyone got excited. Speculation increased as to why he tonsured his head. Later, few felt that it was his new look for his upcoming entertainer, a remake of Tamil hit Vedalam, while some opined that it was other look of Chiru for his film Acharya.
Earlier when Balakrishna appeared with a tonsured head, similar speculation started. While few felt that Balakrishna went to Tirupati to fulfil his vow, others felt that it was his new look for his next with Boyapati Srinu. The latter turned out to be true when it came out that Balakrishna is playing the role of an Aghora in the film.
There are many stars who created a tonsure sensation on the silver screen. Stars generally shy away from experimenting and especially tonsuring their head. However Malron Brando, who created a sensation with the God Father series in Hollywood, dared to be different tonsuring his head for his film Apocalypse Now in 1979 for his role Colonel Curz. From then on many Hollywood stars drawing inspiration from him tonsured their heads.
Coming to Tollywood, Chittor V Nagaiah tonsured his head for his roles in films Thyagayya and Pothana. This gave him super stardom. But the first star to dare tonsuring his head was NTR. He tonsured his head for the roles of Gautam Buddha, Ramanuja, Sankaracharya in his film Veerabrahmandra Swami Charitra. Later no star hero dared to take the risk of tonsuring his head.
In Kollywood, stars like Kamal Hasan, Rajinikanth and Vikram appeared with tonsured heads. Kamal Hasan appeared in Abhay, Rajinikanth in Sivaji and Vikram in I. In Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan appeared with the tonsured head in Paa.
Coming to the box office results, NTR’s Veerabrahmendra Swami Charitra turned out to be a super hit. Amitabh Bachchan won the best actor award for his performance in Paa. Kamal Haasan’s Abhay, Vikram’s I tanked at the box office, while Rajini’s Sivaji which started off on a high note fizzled out completely.
It has to be seen what sensation Balakrishna and Chiranjeevi will create with their tonsured looks on the silver screen and at the box office!