What started off as a mere utilitarian object, used for obvious purposes, the gamcha has now become one of the most iconic accessories in Bollywood. While Govinda frolicked on the screen with a gamcha casually thrown around his neck in several of his films, Amitabh Bachchan exuded some serious rustic charm through his own set in Bunty Aur Babli. Now Salman Khan has sparked off a major trend among amchi Mumbaikars, who have been spotted wearing similar versions of the houndstooth patterned gamcha he sports in Ek Tha Tiger. The ubiquitous gamcha has even travelled abroad. Well you could say, Anurag Kashyap has single-handedly championed the cause of this bolt of fabric. Among the coutured glitterati at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, there was no missing the filmmaker and his ‘gang’ of actors sporting the gamcha before the screening of Gangs of Wasseypur. As the shutterbugs went into an overdrive trying to comprehend this ‘new-found’ fashion accessory, the gamcha seemed to be basking in the glow, resting smugly atop Anurag’s Dior tuxedo.
