Is long hair in? Even as the publicity-famished actors like Ashmit Patel get seriously mane-motivated, we now have some of our major Bollywood stars getting hairy-harvested.

First it was Hrithik Roshan. Now it 's Shah Rukh Khan who 's suddenly grown his hair awfully long.

"I know. It 's a strange sight. Even I get startled sometimes when I see myself in the mirror, " said Shah Rukh.

"I wish I could say it 's in preparation for a role that I 'm about to play. The truth is much simpler. My hair stylist Dilshad is on maternity leave. Instead of going to someone else, I just decided to let my hair grow. "

The strange, new Shah Rukh Khan look has his fans quite bewildered.

"Even I don 't really enjoy unnecessary facial growth. I had to wear a grey wig in 'Veer-Zaara '. It was killing. But that was only for a day. But for 'Paheli ', I had to go around with a moustache stuck to my face for weeks in the burning sun. It was gruelling. I hope it 's worth it, " Shah Rukh said.

Does Hrithik Roshan enjoy his new longhaired look?

"I don 't mind it. For my last film 'Lakshya ', I had to crop my hair really short. This longhaired look really suited my character in my new film 'Krissh '. And since I shoot one film at a time, I 'd really have no continuity problems, " Hrithik maintained.

So is long hair in? Time was when Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan drove producers around the bend by sporting unnecessarily long hair.

Salman 's long hair got Sawan Kumar Tak so rattled during 'Chand Ka Tukda' that the director actually complained to Salman 's father against the hair-borne disaster.

Salman refused to get a haircut. Today he doesn 't need one that badly.

More recently, Aamir Khan went all-out with the facial and head growth for his role in "Mangal Pandey ". Unlike Shah Rukh 's moustache in "Paheli ", Aamir 's whiskers were all real.

Post-shooting Aamir got a new haircut and was pleased enough by the results to draw the media 's attention to it.

Will Shah Rukh 's long hair by default and Hrithik 's long hair by design set off a new trend in Bollywood?

Grins a jovial Bollywood actresss: "I don 't think so. Akshay Khanna isn't the only balding hero in Bollywood. A lot of our heroes are losing their hair quickly because of the various miracle drugs that they take. Shah Rukh and Hrithik can flaunt it while it lasts. Hrithik, let 's not forget, has a history of baldness running in his family. Maybe he should start shopping for wigs soon! " Touche!