I completely forgot our southerners last week, and I am doing an all-Hindi “Best of 2017” contest, so I really feel like I need to make up for it. And the best way I can is an Entire Post of Southern Gentleman. In their native garb.
To start with, to make up for not including Bahubali in my Best of 2017, I give you Prabhas.
Prabhas leaping and showing off his legs.
And Prabhas in “Action” mode
And one silly one
Continuing the Bahubali theme, Rana looks very good, very rebellious, in this Lungi.
And very southern realness in this candid airport shot.
So long as we are in Telugu-country, how about some Mahesh Babu for us?
Naga Chaitanya
That is a nice image, but it’s from his Premam remake, which means we all know he is just a sad imitation of this:
Although this is clearly Nivin‘s all time best Lungi/mundu look:
And after Nivin comes Dulquer. Caught mid-flip, very nice.
A bit more formal.
And, on a motorcycle
Prithviraj, giving us some nice average middleclass man vibes with the mundu and glasses.
Tovino Thomas, looking all kinds of cool in black and white.
Let us leave Kerala and toddle over to Tamil Nadu. Ajith! Shows how a real mature man wears a lungi/veshti/mundu.
And Ajith young and angry
R. Madhavan, dressed like a good boy but with a smile that says he is thinking bad things.
And finally, I know he’s not southern, but MAN, can Dharmendra wear a lungi!!!!
Now, here are your ranking challenges:
Top Three For Attitude
- Mini-Nivin
2. Full Size Nivin
3. Ajith
Top Three For Style
- Maddy. Definitely. The little colored stripes and all, he’s on another level
2. Dulquer. I like the loose folds
3. Rana in the airport
Top Three For Looking Gooo-ooood in Lungi/Mundu/Veshti
- Maybe it’s just the black and white, but Tovino looks very very good.
2. Leaping Prabhas, also very good
3. And Dulquer on a Motorcycle
All Around Winner
Dharmendra. Duh. In any contest.
Bonus question: I feel I did not do right by Prithviraj, and yet I can’t seem to find anything better. Help me!
And we have a better Prithviraj! Courtesy of Meenakshy in the comments:
Update 2: In response to a clamorous demand from the comment section, I give you Mohanlal in Spadikam:
And again:
And poster image
There, now is everyone happy? If not, if I am still missing something obvious-to-everyone-else, let me know and I will update again.
dontcallitbollywood 
Some of my favorite men in here. Nods approvingly.
Nivin with his blackshirt and white mundu. So iconic. Black shirt is not worn with mundu often. But did permam change that in Kerala!
Prabhas does action so gracefully. This time in mundu and wedding finery.
Dulqer just because he’s Dulqer? I have seen Prithviraj rocking the mundu on multiple occasions. (Too lazy to find pics for you, sorry)
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I refuse to accept “Dulquer just because he is Dulquer”. Mostly because I am a Nivin fan. I will accept “Nivin just because he is Nivin”.
On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 4:58 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Honestly, I’m a Nivin girl too. But Dulqer made me go heart eyes over him twice, once as Arjun in Bangalore days, then as Adi in OKK. So it should be allowed. *puppy eyes*
Also he’s tall and does the holding mundu walk gracefully.
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You are right, the height does help with the mundu walk.
On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 5:06 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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u left out mohanlal who brought rajnikanth like style to mundu in movies like devasuram, spadikam etc. only after that whole south industry started showing off style with mundu
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I did look actually, but everything was from like Drishyam, and I wasn’t sure what to search for a younger cooler Mohanlal.
On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 9:22 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Where is MOHANLAL??
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Apparently people feel very strongly about this! Give me a good image and I will add it.
On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 10:46 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I don’t know how to upload a picture here..
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It worked!
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I like your consolation post though the title needs correction.It is Mundu not Mundi.:)
Let me help you distinguish which is which.A mundu & lungi can be contrasted like the trousers/formal pants & jeans.One is more gentlemanly/formal and the other is casual.Mundu is almost always white(in cotton,silk-with or without the embellished ends.A festive occasion requires a festive mundu-eg Prabahs/Madhavan).Lungi can be of any material,any pattern,and suits well for lazing around(eg. Dharmendra’s,Premam boys).It is too casual to be worn to a special/festive occasion.The one that Madhavan is wearing over his shoulders is a veshti-which can also be just draped over the shoulders without wearing the shirt.The mid-flap,folded mundu totally adds to the swag quotient.The one-end lifted(mature Ajith)walk is little tricky-you want to reveal just enough legs while walking without seeming obscene.
And here is Prithviraj-all royal in mundu & veshti & shirtless..;)
https://goo.gl/images/PvDGgU
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Yep, that is the perfect Prithviraj photo! Adding it.
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I found a whole bunch of images just by searching for “mohanlal in mundu” — not on Google, though. Maybe you should switch to a different search engine. 🙂
Here are a couple:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/33399022.cms
Since you like striped ones:
http://www.mnfashions.in/multimedia/bundle/14201833374.jpg
There were some videos, too, of the mundu in action, but they were of poor quality.
To ward off future complaints, I then searched for “mammootty in mundu” and turned up these videos.
First, an ad for mundus! (with a dancing Mammootty!!!) (though this looks more like Mammootty channeling Rajnikanth)
There’s quite an interesting subtext of Indian vs. western clothing in the ad. I don’t know much Malayalam, but the tagline sounds like “Brand X — the choice for real men!”
Here’s another dhoti ad with the same theme (Indian over western), which is more explicit about it in the voiceover:
And a still of Mammootty about to spring into action:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6a/22/f8/6a22f846e47fa16594df3aded946340e.jpg
Mammootty and Mohanlal in beefcake mundu poses: 🙂
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d3/5d/57/d35d573f50da04d40aa4dcfa6d26c68f.jpg
And a special bonus:
http://static.sify.com/cms/image/mi2lcKdjiijsi_medium.jpg
(I hope this posts OK with so many links! Feel free to break it up as needed)
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Thank you! Although, in my shallow youthful way, I still look at these photos and go “ewwwww, they are all so old!”
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But didn’t you say you feel like a spinster aunt to Prabhas? That [puts you in the correct age bracket for either Mohanlal or Mammootty.
Anyway, no media studies reaction to those ads?
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Give me a second, I haven’t watched them closely yet, desperately trying to finish Rahman’s birthday post.
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 10:17 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It’s reminding me of the opening of Mersal, Vijay is stopped at the airport because he is wearing a mundu. What’s funny is, how one sided it is. These ads, and Mersal, had a narrative of “the West is trying to make us stop wearing mundus, doesn’t understand, etc. etc.” And, speaking for the west, we don’t care!!! We aren’t trying to force blue jeans on anyone, you can wear whatever you want. I understand the desire to position the mundu as making a statement about identity, it’s a great advertising gambit to say that buying/wearing this thing means you are more macho, more Indian, more confident in your own identity. But if I were advertising them, I might go for more of a “their comfortable and practical for the weather and also make you look taller” option.
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 10:17 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Hi Margaret, I don’t know how often you check your “to be moderated” file, so I just wanted to give you a heads up that I have a comment there.
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Rescued from it now. It was waiting to be approved when I woke up.
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My day couldn’t begin better – first I saw that Madhavan responed to my tweet and now this. I don’t even feel like voting, love all guys and their photos (maybe apart Naga, Mahesh and this odd angry Ajit 😉 ) Thank you 🙂
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So glad you liked it!
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Rana has the perfect lungi body. He’s slim in the broad bodied male structure. A lungi makes him look taller.
Next prabhas. I could really elaborate why but I won’t.
I wish you’d found good nivin and Prithviraj lungi pics. Sakhavu and aiyya have them in it right?
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I love my Nivin pics! He’s angry and macho and has a little mini-Nivin.
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These aren’t the best, hottest nivin pics and you know that Margaret!! You’re just too into SRK to notice other hot guys right now 😉
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Don’t say that! It’s not true! I will accept “you were too crazy busy at work to have time to sort through all the picks and just put up whatever you could find”.
Also, THIS is why I don’t write more about southern industries! With Hindi TGIFs, I know off the top of my head the good movies with the good images and so on, because I’ve got ten years of data to draw on. But with southern, I am at sea.
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 9:32 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Not true. You have at least seen all the hot guys in action!! I don’t accept this excuse for the TGIF at least!! 😁
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The only person I recognize in this post is Madhavan. Other than recognizing they are all extremely hot 😜
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It’s true, they are. When you are ready, the Malayalam movie I reviewed this morning would be a good start for you on the southern industries. Or else Alaipayuthay.
On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 11:05 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Hi this is my first comment here.. But i read most of ur posts..(pardon my English) After reading this headline first name came into my mind is Mohanlal.. bcoz am frm kerala and here Mohanlal is like the brand ambassador of mundu.. Every one wears the mundu is compared to him..Even all these actors nivin, dulquer,prithvi.. u know Nivin said he watched Spadikam scenes repeatedly just before shooting that famous scene from Premam
(Sorry for my bad English)
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I am so glad you commented! And no worries about your English. Your ideas are what is important, not your grammar.
I’ll have to see if I can find a still of Mohanlal from Spadikam or something to add to the post.
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Some of his famous mundu scenes are in this video
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Have u seen this video Lungi dance Mohanlal Srk Mammootty
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And I’m adding Unni Mukundan in his mundi and lungi:
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Everyone Is Looking Cool … Mainly Prabhas & Also The Appearance 🙂 ..Keep It Going
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