… losing my religion …
'Guyliner'
The eyeliner is one element of makeup that men have readily embraced.
Men across centuries have sported various styles of eyeliner essentially gaining its name guyliner to express themselves, assert their authority and deviant to societal standards.
There is a long history of men darkening their eyes using Surma in India.
Different cultures in the country use it to ward off the evil eye, to improve eyesight.
It’s especially used in Muslim Communities. Unfortunately, today in Bollywood the Surma now single-handedly identifies a character as Muslim, as a reductive stereotype in pop culture.
The cultural reasons for men wearing kohl underneath their eyes are markedly different from what is portrayed on mainstream television in India.
It is different from the history of the guyliner in the rest of the world.
The central concept of guyliner is the reclaiming of identity, something which has escaped filmmakers in India.
Calcutta, Chinatown, March 2023
