MUMBAI: An actor takes as much time getting ready as an actress does these days…With most of the top actors preferring to do just one film at a time, they are now able to keenly invest in not just their bodies, but also their get ups. We start with Amitabh Bachachan who has a release coming up this Friday.

For Amitabh Bachchan to dress up as 13 year old Auro was perhaps the biggest time consuming challenge. In Paa, the actor suffers from a rare disease and to get his look right, the actor alongwith his director, Balki flew to London to test for his look. After the look was approved, the actor realized that it would take him at least 3 to 4 hours to get ready, daily. While his co-stars, Abhishek Bachchan, dressed in casuals or white kurta and pyjama and Vidya Balan, dressed in simple cotton sarees designed by Sabyasachi Roy, would get ready in 30 minutes, Amitabh Bachchan would have to patiently wait for hours to get his look right. And it was not just Paa, Big B has been experimenting with his looks in films like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Aladin.

Shah Rukh Khan took the easy route out for Rab Ne Bana De Jodi. After pumping up his muscles to flaunt a six pack ab for Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, SRK took to wearing glasses with a nerdy look to represent one of the characters, while for the other brash character, it was a yuppy look, prevalent in every small city or town in India.

Aamir Khan the perfectionist, went out of his way to look the part in his Ghajjini. The muscle rippling, close shaven head with a scar running from the top of his hairline to his nape, was a first for the actor. Aamir, had to work on his muscles with Sattu, one of the biggest names in the industry who can sculpture one’s body according to the character of the film. Having just created the perfect body for himself, Aamir had to lose it all for his next, Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots. To play a college student, the 40 odd year old actor lost all his muscle tissue to get into the garb of a gum chewing, college boy. Aamir in the past has also grown his hair for Mangal Pandey and cropped his hair short for Dil Chahta Hai.

Salman Khan is not lagging behind. To play the warrior in Veer, the actor has very painstakingly grown his tresses. The actor, inspite of the film being completed, is still keeping his locks so as to look the part while promoting the film.

Shahid Kapoor has always looked the part of the innocent in all his films. So for him to pull off the role of a kamina in Kaminey, which was also a double role for him, was not going to be easy. Although his director, Vishal Bharadwaj gave his characters a different dimension, by making one stammer and the other lisp, Shahid styled the roguish character with long hair, while keeping the staid character as bland as possible with no styling. Shahid has also now got James working with him. The hair stylist who doubles up as a make up person, was responsible for Hrithik Roshan’s high style quotient. But James’ touch can now be seen on Shahid, in his latest film, Chance Pe Dance.

Saif Ali Khan has also been busy with his stylist. After the handle bar moustache in Tashan, Saifu looked the solid and stoic character of a Sardar in his home production, Love Aaj Kal. And with Bebo by his side, Saif must be getting all the style tips from her.

Other actors like Akshay Kumar in Chandni Chowk to China, Sanjay Dutt in Luck and Ranbir Kapoor as a Sardar in Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year, have all visited stylists to plan their looks in the hope that their films look different and they as actors offer a wider variety to their audiences.