Aalim Hakim, one of Indian cinema’s leading hairstylists, is the creative mind behind the looks of some of the biggest stars. Fom Rajinikanth and Shah Rukh Khan to Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. Aalim comes from a family deeply rooted in the art of hairstyling. His father, Hakim Kairanvi, was a celebrated stylist of his time and the man responsible for Amitabh Bachchan’s iconic hairstyle of the 1970s. In an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, Aalim reflected on his father’s long association with Amitabh Bachchan.
“My dad’s collaboration with Bachchan saab was right after his first film. Everything he did after Saat Hindustani, it was all done by my dad. Reshma Aur Shera was Amit ji’s second film and Sunil Dutt was there, who was my dad’s client. So it was Dutt saab who introduced my dad to him. The collaboration started then, and it lasted till the very end of his career. So all the popular hairstyles you see in films like Sholay, Zanjeer, Don, Amar Akbar Anthony, Deewaar, my dad was the man behind it,” he said.
Aalim shared an emotional memory about his father’s final moments, which were, fittingly, spent at work: “My dad died doing his haircut. His last haircut of life was of Amit ji. He was cutting his hair, he got a cardiac arrest. It was during the shoot of Mard in Mysore. So he was doing his continuity haircut, while doing so, he complained of chest pain and next day he passed away.”
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He also recalled how his father worked with almost every major star of that era. “My father worked with everyone. Be it Dilip Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Jeetendra, you name the top most stars, and my father did haircut for all of them. All of them from 60s up till 80s. And not only Indian actors but also international stars used to desire to get haircut done from my father whenever they used to visit India. Be it Bruce Lee, or Richard Harris, or even Mohammad Ali, or England cricket player Tony Greig, all these legends got their haircut done from him.”
In an earlier conversation with Hindi Rush, Aalim had spoken candidly about the difficult period following his father’s death and the lack of support from the industry. “They’re all self-centred, and let me tell you one thing, even today they’re the same. They meet you nicely, they’re friendly, but you have to work for yourself. As a child, all I wanted to do was earn my father’s respect back, to keep his legacy going.”
Aalim Hakim is currently working on several major projects, including Shah Rukh Khan’s King, Ranbir Kapoor’s Love and War, and SS Rajamouli’s upcoming film with Mahesh Babu.
