KARACHI:
In a dusty archive of Bollywood’s golden age, there’s a familiar gleam in every frame: the unmistakable sharp flick of a perfect wing, the deep intensity of kohled eyes. While hemlines rose and fell, studios shifted from songs to realism and back again, and technicolour replaced black-and-white, one element remained constant: the power of a perfectly lined eye.
From Meena Kumari’s tragic-romantic kajal to Rekha’s fierce wings that could probably take flight, Indian cinema has given us some of the most iconic eye moments in beauty history. But how has a simple streak of black maintained its chokehold on Bollywood’s beauty universe? The answer lies in a legacy that’s equal parts art, alchemy, and pure screen magic.
Kajal to disco wing
Long before liquid liners made their way into makeup bags, kajal was the undisputed queen of eye definition in Indian cinema. The 1950s and ’60s saw the rise of the “Meena Kumari eye.” The tragedy queen’s iconic style featured thick kajal at the outer corners, deliberately smudged to create depth, paired with a lighter application at the inner corners – a technique that made her eyes appear larger and more expressive. The lower lash line, heavily lined but softened, created that characteristic vulnerable look that became her signature.
But this wasn’t just about aesthetics – kajal’s history in India stretches back thousands of years, from ancient Ayurvedic formulations to its significance as a protective talisman.
When Waheeda Rehman graced the screen in Guide (1965), she brought with her a softer interpretation of the kajal-rimmed eye. Her look – delicate yet defined – represented the perfect marriage of tradition and modernity.
The 1970s ushered in the era of geometric precision, and no one embodied this revolution quite like Zeenat Aman. In Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), her razor-sharp wings became the talk of the town, inspiring a generation of women to ditch their kajal pencils for liquid liners. But it was Parveen Babi who truly pushed the envelope, pairing her signature wings with metallic shadows that screamed disco glamour in films like Amar Akbar Anthony (1977).
Rekha, the undisputed empress of the statement eye, redefined cinematic makeup in Umrao Jaan (1981). Her upturned wings paired with kajal-rimmed lower lashes formed an architectural template still referenced by makeup artists today. The wings followed the natural lift of her brow arch, smoothly connecting to the thick kajal on her lower lash line to create a striking, continuous frameher signature look.
