Bollywood is getting inked again

Even as makers of Dum Maaro Dum offer the temporary tattoo seen on Deepika Padukone’s waist at box-offices around country, here’s looking at who is bringing the ink back in fashion.

It all started with Amitabh Bachchan in Deewaar (1975). Pointing to his left arm, on which was engraved the black scribble mera baap chor hai, Vijay (Big B’s character) swore vengeance. That was the birth of the angry young man. Cut to 2011, tattoos aren’t doing that much for Bollywood. Now it’s more about the ‘mood’. And though an inked Deepika Padukone may be dancing to lyrics about bowel movements in Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maaro Dum, the design has caught on.

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So much so, that the makers of the film now plan to offer temporary tattoos of the same design to filmgoers. “A smaller version of the tattoo of the film’s title, Dum Maaro Dum, in devnagri font, will be available at all box-offices. We are yet to decide whether we want to sell it or give it out, but it will go around,” says Sippy, who also visited the tattoo convention, which took place in the city last week.

The director, whose film is due to release next week, also stresses upon the fact that the art form should be used when it can add to the storytelling process or a character. “Our movie required it because the setting and culture was such,” he says.

Shah Rukh Khan, Emraan Hashmi and John Abraham too will be seen fashioning tattoos in their forthcoming films, Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2, Mahesh Bhatt’s Murder 2 and Nishikanth Kamat’s Force, respectively. In the recent past, Kangna Ranaut and Shahana Goswani too sported the ink on them in Tanu Weds Manu and Break Ke Baad, respectively.

Padukone, meanwhile, who herself has tattooed the initials of former boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor (RK) on the nape of her neck and her own (DP), on her ankle, feels the permanency of the ink is beautiful. As a matter of fact she was even invited to the tattoo convention. “Deepika’s absence was felt. She would have been the perfect ambassador,” says Manoj Thakur, partner at Par Excellance Entertainment, that organised the event.

Meanwhile the actor, who is currently shooting for Desi Boyz in London, adds in the same vein, “It’s become a bit of a phenomenon today. We don’t mind flaunting a design, which defines our state of mind. I feel it is a beautiful expression of design and attitude.”