SALMAN KHAN sported a spiky blond tip for his first music video Honey Honey, Sanjay Dutt an Antonio Banderas look for Rudraksh and Mahesh Manjrekar a wild head of hair for his new comedy Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav. But the man who delivers the macho mien to our heroes is the soft-spoken Aalim Hakim, armed with his satchel of expensive German-made scissors.

Aalim always fiddled with star hair, but since styling Sanjay’s cut for Ishq Samundar in Kaante and Ajay Devgan’s strands for Bhoot and Qayamat, he is Bollywood’s behind-the-scenes hero. Suniel Shetty in Rudraksh, Sanjay in Rudraksh, Plan and the Pathan appearance in Deewar, Salman’s new floppy for Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Ajay in Khakee, Fardeen Khan in No Entry and the new Provogue ad, Saif Ali Khan in Ek Hasina Thi and a Pepsi blue tinge for the new commercial, Anil Kapoor in Allwyn Kalicharan...phew! Aalim obviously spends his days running his fingers through hero hair.

“The first star that I cut hair for was Vivek (Oberoi). We’re FYJC (first year junior college) friends and used to act in plays together. Now I do his hair all the time,” he says, in his soft blue-lit saloon Hakim’s Aalim in Mumbai suburb Andheri.

A customer has just walked in and wants to look like a new woman. Aalim silently circles her, cutting her thick swathe into feathery layers, addressing short sentences to her. “So far, the only actress’ hair I’ve been cutting for the past two years is Kajol—that short look. Actors come to me telling me that their hair is scanty; that they want it to look like a bouquet of hair,” he smiles. Suniel Shetty adds, “We’re always joking that as 90 per cent of the actors are bald, he has something to play with in my hair. Aalim looks into your eyebrows and moustache too. He’s very creative and a good soul.”

Some of Aalim’s talent is inherited. His father Hakim was hairdresser for the likes of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Sunil Dutt. But he also puts it down to an “affection towards fashion”. He “interferes” in their clothes, goes shopping with them and endlessly questions them on the characters. It helps him do the homework—adding different styles on their computer images until he zeroes in on one. Then with his Jaguar scissors that cost Rs 10,000 a piece, he’s ready to snip. Sisters Tehzeeb and Taheer (who offers expert opinion on colours) help him run the business.

Aalim is just back from South Africa where he turned the mops of Mahesh Manjrekar, Johnny Lever, Suniel Shetty and Gulshan Grover into outlandish modes. Says Mahesh, “It’s a fun film and I wanted two looks. This KL Saigal type with a big French beard. Then the girl transforms him to a whacked-out look. Aalim gives ten options, sometimes one you never dreamt of.”

  According to Aalim  

• Lovely thick mane: Suniel Shetty • Softest: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan • Poker-straight: Vivek Oberoi • Curliest: Manoj Bajpai • Coolest: Saif Ali Khan and Fardeen Khan • The only guys to carry off bald: Salman (seen that!), Sanjay and Akshay Kumar