Asin: I don`t judge a person by his chest hair

Rewind to the 1980s - Amitabh Bachchan's many heroines leaned over his hairy chest and twiddled with the curls - scenes which left that generation of ladies romanticising male chest hair. Fast forward to 2000 - an era of male stars with clean-shaven, chiselled torsos topped with the easiest six-pack.

"Chest hair was the six-pack of the 1980s," filmmaker Shirish Kunder tweeted recently, sparking a pertinent thought - Where's the male actor who came on screen along with his torso because it was?

The answer lies within the common man and woman's choice itself!

A survey conducted by consumer electronics manufacturer Philips India, that is set to launch various grooming products for men, indicates 65 percent men (out of 500 respondents aged between 18-25 in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi) are happy with the theory of removing body hair below the chin.

What drives this? The urge to appear good and tasty for one's partner.

"A well-built body and an overall well-groomed personality have now become the benchmark for one's macho quotient in preference to the amount of body hair one sports," actor John Abraham, who has unabashedly sported his neat, toned chest at the big screen, told.

"In recent years, we've seen an enormous style revolution among men they usually have started taking their grooming very seriously, be it experimenting with their clothes, facial hair, or body hair.

"Women today also prefer their partners to be more hygienic and well-groomed in every aspect, despite the fact that that implies shaving off their body hair," added John, who's also the emblem ambassador of the Philips Male Grooming Range.

According to 80 percent of the ladies who were a part of the survey, an excessive amount of body hair on their partner is a turn-off.

Amita Biswas, 56, feels "chest hair is sexy and men with hairy chest can also be trusted", while 25-year-old Kavita Bansal said: "IT'S totally uninviting and unhygienic."

It surely is an issue of the generation gap.

But in its own little way, chest hair played a memorable part in romantic, action and comedy sequences involving actors like Amitabh, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar or even the Khans - Salman ("Maine Pyar Kiya") and Aamir ("Lagaan").

Cut to the 21st century, the more youthful lot of those actors and plenty of more a la Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor, barring the bushy Abhay Deol, resorted to shaving, waxing, epilators, hair removal creams and even laser hair removal treatment for a smooth and clean look.

And identical to most Bollywood trends do, this trend moved to the streets among commoners too.

Women are increasingly backing it and inspiring their male partners to shed their body hair. They're open to presenting their man with a razor or bodygroomer, booking him a waxing session and likewise discussing their likes or dislikes regarding body hair - all facts reaffirmed by the survey.

"It is sweet to be open for your partner and if it means talking about such things as removing chest hair, why not?" said Pragya Sinha, a professional who prefers the waxed look.

But some, like actress Asin Thottumkal, laugh about it. "I DO NOT judge a person by his chest hair. Whatever he's as an individual matters more to me. I'D opt for his personality in place of his chest hair," she said.

Director Rohit Shetty was into splits once we posed the question to him and, amid laughter, he uttered: "I'M a man, how am i able to answer this?"