NEW DELHI, Dec 21, 2008 (AFP) - The extravagant beards and moustaches proudly sported by generations of Indian men are under threat, according to a new book that celebrates the country's finest facial hair.

An Indian Hindu - Photo : Narinder Nanu/AFP

As India rapidly modernises, clean chins are becoming the rule among young people, said the book's author, Richard McCallum, who spent months on the road documenting the bushiest bristles he could find before they disappear forever.

With photographer Chris Stowers, McCallum scoured markets, festivals and remote villages to gather specimens now collected in their book "Hair India -- A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches of Hindustan".

"It was an idea that started out as a bit of fun but turned into a labour of love," said McCallum, 30, a British travel business operator who has lived in Delhi for four years.

"Beards and moustaches tell the story of modern India -- how it is becoming a more Westernised, homogenised place, but also how the great traditions and the love of display still exist.

"Male grooming is important to Indians, and facial hair proved a topic that took us to places and into conversations with people we would never have met otherwise."

The book, lavishly illustrated with hundreds of colour photographs, divides facial hair into categories including "the chin strap," "the soup strainer," "the wing commander" and "the walrus".

Among those pictured are both the world's longest beard, measuring six foot (1.6 metres) long, and the world's longest moustache, at 11 foot-6 inches.

The record-breaking moustache is a big earner for Ram Singh Chauman, 54, who charges modelling fees and whose whiskers have starred in Bollywood films and even had a cameo in the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy".

But the stars of the book are perhaps the ordinary stall-owners and rickshaw drivers showing off moustaches and beards that are cut, dyed, waxed and preened in an endless variety of shapes and sizes.

"Some people were confused when we first told them why we wanted to take their picture, but they soon became very keen," said Stowers, who has worked in more than 50 countries and several war zones.

"One photograph might take hours, while others were just snapped in seconds."

McCallum and Stowers' search took them from camel fairs in Rajasthan to the Himalayan town of Leh, and from the banana groves of the Western Ghats to military tattoos in the capital New Delhi.

Along the way, they demonstrated their commitment to the job by discarding their razors, with McCallum growing an unruly black beard and Stowers sprouting a moustache which he tweaked into sharp upwards curls.

"We found one guy with fabulous wavy, grey muttonchops in the backstreets of old Delhi via a hand-drawn map by someone who had spotted him," recalled McCallum.

"In Mysore we chased a guy with a bunch of bananas on his head for three blocks only to discover that his moustache was very ordinary, but he took us to his warehouse where we discovered some of the finest examples in all India."

Sikhs, for whom "kesh" (uncut hair) is a religious principle, feature heavily in the book, and moustaches remain a professional requirement for the doormen of five-star hotels.

But otherwise the traditional belief that facial hair is a sign of virility appears to be facing the chop.

"Young people don't want an itchy moustache or beard which they think makes them look old," said Lalan Singh, 40, a restaurant doorman in Delhi's Connaught Place and the owner of a handlebar moustache that took three years to grow.

McCallum believes there is another reason for the decline.

"There is a lack of role models," he said.

"These days most Bollywood stars and cricketers won't go beyond a bit of designer stubble."by Ben Sheppard