New Delhi: Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, on Monday flew a joint sortie with Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa in MiG-21 fighter and pictures of the two have been making rounds. However, the internet had a mixed reaction to the same. While most of the netizens were elated to see the brave officer back, they were left perplexed to see that Abhinanda had shaved off his trademark moustache.

Recently awarded the Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistan fighter jet in a dogfight earlier this year, Abhinandan was taken captive by Pakistan after being shot down over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, merely a few days after the deadly Pulwama attack. The pilot was released two days after his capture, which de-escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. Soon images of Abhinandan flooded the internet and his ‘gunslinger moustache’ became a craze among the men. Many were seen donning the ‘hero moustache’.

Now, with the hero having trimmed the stylish moustache, twitter had some interesting reactions. 
Arpita Raj, a twitter user said, “Abhinandan’s classic gunslinger moustache that once spoke louder than words is now trimmed. Men salons are going to be busy from tomorrow onwards. Shave it like #Abhinandan”
“Abhinandan minus his signature moustache but great that he quickly came back to flying” said Aviator Anil Chopra.
Yet another twitter user, Kushan Mitra said, NOOOOOOOOOO! Why Abhi, why?
“On a lighter note, the bigger breaking is that India has lost its famous mustachahe. #AbhinandanVarthaman ka moonch,” said Snehesh Alex Philip.
Moustache or no Moustache, he will ever be our Hero, the bottom line of all the tweets!