From macho to muse: Mohanlal & Fahadh Faasil redefine masculinity in jewellery ads

There is a moment in Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s recent jewellery ad when he fixes a side-eye at a young model — a familiar trope immortalised by Indian cinema. However, it isn’t the cliché we were expecting. He isn’t looking at her at all — but at the necklace she’s about to wear, his eyes beaming with jealousy, compelling him to steal it for himself.

Moments later, in the quiet confines of his vanity van, he slips on the necklace as he twirls elegantly to singer Sangeetha Sreekanth’s soulful voice. The director later catches him mid-performance as Mohanlal’s mischievous smile closes the ad — not with embarrassment, but with delight. What lingers is the visual of cinema’s iconic star, famously associated with brawny characters, not breaking skulls, but swaying with effortless grace. This ad for Vinsmera Jewels, released only a month ago, has since garnered 2.6 million views on YouTube.

Prakash Varma, founder-partner at Nirvana Films, who also directed the ad, has more to add about how the gamble paid off. “Since Mohanlal was signed on as the brand ambassador, it felt logical to get him to enjoy the jewellery himself, as opposed to endorsing it the conventional way. We wanted to explore how feminine and masculine fluidity could co-exist, drawing from our own culture,” he says. Varma was unsure if Mohanlal would bite. “I started to narrate the concept to him, and even before I could finish, he was completing my sentences. His childlike enthusiasm gave me wings.” It was also Mohanlal who suggested using Swathi Thirunal’s composition, later recreated by music composer Bijibal. On shoot day, Varma says, the actor was “immersed in the moment. No extra takes.”

Most jewellery ads in India feature women at the centre, while men often play the role of gift-bearing husbands or fathers. What makes the ad disruptive is that the superstar himself chose to don the jewellery, thus breaking deeply rooted advertising codes in one of India’s most conservative product categories — and driving home the message that ornamentation need not be bound by one gender.

Mohanlal isn’t championing this movement alone. Who would have known that Fahadh Faasil — best known for playing a murderous son in Joji and an abusive husband in Kumbalangi Nights — would front a campaign for Kavitha Gold & Diamonds? In the ad, his screen mother gifts him a nose ring. At first, he assumes it’s for her. However, when she reveals it is for him, he wears the ornament gleefully, without any fuss. The mother teases, “Why should girls have all the fun?”

Conceptualised and scripted by Shabna Mohammed and directed by Martin Prakkat, the ad challenges the binary narrative that drives most jewellery campaigns. Shabna, who grew up listening to jingles such as, “If you are a girl, you need gold,” says she wanted to write something that challenged this conditioning. “As a child, I began to quietly internalise it until I began to question — and later unlearn — it. That’s the lure of advertising: it can shape identity before we even realise it,” she says. When Faasil came aboard, Shabna says Prakkat saw an opportunity — why not flip the script and have the mother gift her son a piece of jewellery instead? “With a lesser-known actor, the concept may not have worked. But Faasil’s endorsement of the idea legitimised it. When a celebrity of his stature makes a statement, audiences take note,” she says.

For Prasanna Kumar, executive vice president and creative domain head of the Insights Division at Kantar, a marketing data and analytics company, what makes both campaigns powerful is the different kinds of “license” they extend to men. Kumar says, “Mohanlal’s campaign is about self-permission — a cultural icon of stoic masculinity reclaiming ornamentation on his own terms. Faasil’s is about external permission — his reflective tone, paired with the presence of his mother, suggests emotional expression is actively encouraged.” Together, these perspectives, he says, illuminate two critical dimensions of men’s growing relationship with jewellery — the inner desire for expression and the outer validation that enables it.

Kumar points out how Kerala is setting the stage for such experiments. “Regional campaigns draw on local traditions, and Kerala’s cinematic legacy — with its comfort in gender fluidity — allows such portrayals to feel authentic. In contrast, pan-India campaigns tend to default to generic tropes,” he argues. Ad veteran Raj Kamble, founder and CCO at Famous Innovations, explains why that may be the case: “Global campaigns crack ideas in London or New York offices, then adapt them across various countries, thus avoiding regional specificity.”

However, he is quick to point out that Indian campaigns, embedded in local ethos, resonate with audiences on a far more personal wavelength. Kamble has long worked at this intersection. Earlier, his agency created the Mia by Tanishq campaign for International Men’s Day that highlighted: “We make jewellery for women. But our jewellery doesn’t know that.” The copy cheekily pointed out that necklaces don’t care about hairy chests and nose pins brighten up faces, bearded or not. “Why should jewellery be gendered? If a brand’s messaging reflects progress, it can push society forward. After all, advertising can do more than just sell brands.”

Yet, the scarcity of leading men of cinema in such campaigns is glaring. It is this very scarcity that solidifies their impact. The Kerala Police even parodied Mohanlal’s ad to promote emergency services — signalling its acceptance.

Still, a recent report by Kantar titled The Indian Masculinity Maze, which examines how urban Indian men are perceived, portrayed, and positioned in modern advertising, presents sharp contradictions. The report reveals that while men want to look presentable, many still equate “trying too hard” with a loss of masculinity. A quarter of respondents strongly agree that men who focus on appearance aren’t “manly,” yet 28 per cent believe those who don’t look good lose respect. Kumar, co-author of the report, says, “These findings highlight cultural blind spots that both brands and society must reckon with.”

In most jewellery ads, weddings and patriarchal gifting continue to be the norm. “Many brands play it safe, steering clear of any cultural commentary to avert potential backlash,” says Shabna.

The presence of Mohanlal and Faasil may not erase decades of conditioning — but it does challenge the rigid binaries that have long dominated jewellery advertising. “It is rare for an advertisement to start a conversation of any kind. But when it does, it helps us gauge the pulse of what the people are ready to accept or discard,” says Varma. And in this case, two of Malayalam cinema’s biggest stars prove that masculinity can not only look good — it can glitter in gold!