Beauty for sale

Dubai residents are sceptical about Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's latest role in a soap ad.

Sashay over, beautiful ladies, it's time for the beautiful men, uh sorry, the metrosexual male - oh you know, the guys who care about what they look like but don't want to be effeminate, or whatever…

Anyway, it's time for men to represent beauty products, if we are to take the latest King Khan's venture into the ad-world seriously.

Shah Rukh Khan, one of the biggest stars ever to shine in the multi-million dollar Bollywood industry, is now starring in an advertisement for what has traditionally been billed a beauty soap, Lux.

Even die-hard fans of Khan like yours truly have certain reservations about the move. First, there's something about crossing gender lines and going where "no man has ever gone before".

More important, Khan is anything but beautiful. There is very little that is not all man about him.

Granted, his dimples are metres long and those eyes bring smouldering to a new intensity and his smile…. his smile has a heart-stopping quality that should come with a warning to cardiac patients, but he is not about beauty.

Charm, mischief, vulnerability and an aggressive joie de vivre maybe, but let's not get carried away.

Traditional

Dubai residents seemed unanimous in their scepticism. Traditional to the core, they may or may not love Shah Rukh Khan, but they like to let women keep to the business of portraying beauty.

Most found the idea weird and some even ventured to opine that other male stars like Aamir Khan, Salman Khan or even Fardeen Khan would have been better for the role. Looks like a sudsy dogfight all the way to the bathtub drain.

Ranjana Shardha, the owner of a handicrafts shop, is not a Shah Rukh fan, but was unbiased in her opinion.

"It doesn't matter who is involved, but this is not a man's product or something usually associated with men.

"Also, it is not about who endorses the product, but its quality. I realise it's new, but it is also ridiculous. At least that's what educated people will think.

"Maybe it could work in the small towns of India, but in the urban areas I think it would lose the message.

"Personally, I would enjoy watching the ad, but I wouldn't be influenced into buying Lux because of it."

Mimi Almeida, an Indian secretary, thought that the company was taking a risk with the bold new move.

"I don't use this product anyway, but I don't know how well it will go using a man to advertise a beauty product. It's not right.

"I just cannot understand why they would want to use him. It is more the right kind of thing for women. I would like to watch the ad, though, to see how it is handled, but it just doesn't gel."

Prakash Shah, a marketing executive, was confused about why anyone would use a man for a product that has earlier stressed its qualities to beautify women.

"These products are for women – to make them good looking. Although Shah Rukh is a great actor, he doesn't have the chocolate boy good looks of Aamir Khan.

"Aamir Khan is not only one of the greatest actors, but he has fair skin and could pull off an ad like this. But maybe doing something different is better for him.

"It could be a challenge for Shah Rukh to make it work."

Abdul Matin, a sales executive, would like to see the advertisement but is not sufficiently impressed to switch from his regular soap.

"It's definitely something unusual and definitely funny. Beauty and beauty products are associated with women. True, men do use face creams and lotions and some even wax, but a beauty soap is taking it too far.

"It won't have much impact on the viewers. Those who like the product will continue to buy it, but I don't see it converting anyone.

Intriguing

"Why should we be interested in beautifying ourselves; we men are always beautiful. The idea to use a man is intriguing, but Shah Rukh Khan's image is of a rough and tough man, kind of like Vivek Oberoi. Only his diehard fans would be influenced by this gimmick.

"If softer, more romantic leading men like Aamir Khan, Salman Khan or Fardeen Khan were to do the ad, it would have had more impact.

"Shah Rukh is handsome sometimes, when he dresses up, but not always. He
could handle aftershave lotion ads or something more masculine, but a product like this would do better with slightly more smooth-skinned heroes."