Celebrity hairstylist Darshan Yewalekar believes in blending traditional techniques with modern innovations

One has long heard of ‘accidental’ actors in the industry, we met an ‘accidental’ hair stylist—Darshan Yewalekar. He styled stars in films like Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani and Laal Kaptaan; worked with top stars like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Vicky Kaushal and Jaideep Ahlawat, and is fondly called ‘Hairdresser-in-Chief’ of Ranveer Singh. And, this small town boy landed in the industry, per chance!

A young lad from Bhusawal, Maharashtra, all he wanted to do was to study in a big city. Someone pointed out to his father, “Ye 60 percenter padayi karke kya hi kar lega…send him to do hair styling.” With his mother working in a beauty parlour, the family took the suggestion well. Thus, Darshan began his journey at 17, moving to Pune, training under the legendary Hakim Aalim before landing on film sets in Mumbai.

“Having worked with the who’s who of the industry, I realised early on that a hairstylist has a big role in making a character believable,” shares Darshan. Getting to work with Ranveer opened up a whole new vista. “Ranveer has upped the ante of men’s styling more than anyone else in recent times.”

Darshan talks about Bajirao Mastani and how he vociferously advocated that Ranveer should go bald. “To ask a mainstream actor to go bald for the shoot was too much to ask for! But I believed in myself and was fortunate that we saw it through.”

The culture of creating characters has got an overhaul and Darshan is pretty kicked about it. “Now I get a script and am part of the entire process.” Having styled Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya in messy medium-length hair to the rather suave Saif Ali Khan in dreadlocks in Laal Kaptaan, Darshan’s work has increased manifold. Darshan wishes to design the entire cast now. “In some upcoming films of mine, I am designing looks of 70 to 80 characters with my team.”

Among the most challenging projects that Darshan has helmed, he count 83 to be right on the top. “To create ‘Kaps’ look for Ranveer was a tough one as Kapil Dev is a living legend. Even though one trusted Ranveer to get into the skin of the character, there had to be a certain likeness.”

Much in love with AI, Darshan finds in it a compelling tool. “When I started, people would give references for looks. Today, one can be creative and convert one’s imagination into any visual. Thanks to AI.”

He is happy that there is increasing acceptance in the industry. “For the film Chhatriwali, Satish Kaushik wore a wig. I suggested that we introduced a new wig each time. He played a factory owner who had a store where he would keep all his wigs,” he shares.

Working with celebs, do they come with all their quirks? “Celebs are celebs; not just on the basis of their looks but they are very hard-working folks too, ones who take their looks as well as craft very seriously.” Darshan takes his job as seriously and is open to sharing his vision. “A star may not agree with my vision but as long as you sit with them and explain how you perceive the character, it all falls in place.”

Prosthetics make his job even more fun, but challenging at the same time. Darshan believes about 80 per cent goes according to vision, but 20 per cent is dependent on real-time location. “In Laal Kaptaan, for Saif Ali Khan’s look everything was decided after careful consideration. But still I wasn’t convinced about the beard. So, we worked two hours right on the day of shoot to finalise the look.” He is quite excited about upcoming film, Yash-starrer Toxic. “I am exploring new spaces. Each day I wake up with the excitement to do something different.”

The stylist, who founded D Barbershop in Mumbai, seamlessly blending traditional techniques with modern innovation, aims at more each day. “I want to elevate Indian hair styling to global standards,” he signs off.

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