Prompted by an entry in LJ of <LJ user=shortindiangirl>.

If I see a face for the first time, an impression of beauty/non-beauty forms. If I continue to see just the face, the impression remains static. But if I interact with the person, or read about him/her or watch them on a talk show, than the impression is strengthesned or it fades depending on the person behind the face.

Too many people I know are too conscious about their good looks, or arrogant, or not-nice in other ways; some of them just plain don’t smile enough. But when many non-good-looking people smile, lighting up their face, with their goodness shining through, bohey become good-looking to me. My husband’s wrinkled face, with its jowly cheeks and doughball nose, is not handsome to my artist’s eye but is the most good-feeling looks I know.

One quirk that I have is that if the good looks are accompanied by a corncrake, “kaakaa kural” voice, that is the end of beauty for me. I may like the person but will wince every time s/he says something.

I think Ingrid Bergman is extremely beautiful, and Tom Cruise extremely handsome. I don’t think Julia Robertsts or Aishwarya Rai are all that beautiful.

That doesn’t explain, though, why I find Walter Matthau very good-looking, and why I find Pierce Brosnan, and Naseeruddin Shah, and Nafisa Ali as good-looking as ever as they age, and why I think Shabana Azmi is losing her looks….