Make-up Artists Decode Indian Cinema's Most Memorable Looks: From Trisha in 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' to Alia Bhatt in 'Rocky Aur Rani...'

Make-up has been a silent but intentional filmmaker on cinema sets since time immemorial. It softens and sometimes sharpens, ages and de-ages, and almost becomes a time capsule. Behind every iconic character’s face lies a blueprint of creative decisions — the smudged kohl that tells a love story, the nude lip that speaks of quiet confidence, the bindi that grows with age and power. Make-up artists are the unsung architects of cinema’s most memorable looks, translating directors’ visions and actors’ personas into visual poetry.

Here, the artists behind some of Indian cinema’s most unforgettable characters reveal their creative process and share secrets for recreating these signature looks at home.

Puneet B. Saini

on crafting iconic kajal-led transformations

Anushka Sharma in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016)

Karan [Johar] likes his women to look feminine and glamorous, and for Alizeh, he wanted kohled, smokey eyes. Anushka [Sharma] plays a Pakistani girl living in the U.K., and the idea has to do with her heritage. Karan gave me free rein during the look test, and I ran with that. Anushka has really nice eyes, and there’s a lot you can do with them. When you focus so much on the eyes, you keep the rest of the face a lot more muted.

It was all about her eyes and her nails. If you notice, her nail colour changes in almost every frame. We wanted her nails to be fun. Most women tend to do one aspect of their make-up similarly. People who wear kohl do so as soon as they wake up. I know people who go to sleep with kohl and wake up with kohl. It’s almost like a second skin, and it was that for Alizeh. The women are always important and beautiful in Karan’s films. He gives you a lot of respect, freedom and credit, and as a creative person, you cannot ask for anything more. I had an amazing time working with him.

Alia Bhatt in Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)

I have to give a lot of credit to Sanjay Leela Bhansali sir, for Gangu. When we were doing the look test, he told me, “Do whatever you want, but what I need is kajal worn outside the eyelids like the Gujarati women do, and bindi.”

He wanted the bindi to be made with lipstick, just like how women of a certain generation would wear their bindis.

What was interesting for me was the character’s development from the age of 16 to 33. There were two other elements that we created, which were the freckles, and the tattoo on her cheek, which was Bhansali sir’s idea. Alia [Bhatt] was actually seven to eight shades darker in the movie. I wanted this to be a gradual change to depict the ageing and the environment she was living in. I created her bindi with a liquid lipstick, and increased its size gradually, and it sits bigger and bigger on her forehead as she becomes older. I also made her lips more nude and browner as she aged. And her kajal went from being thinner to thicker. Gangu’s make-up isn’t done artistically, but it’s just done naturally as a Gujarati woman would do it.

For the scenes that show her falling in love, I used more sensual rose pinks for her lips and made the kajal more feminine. Alia worked so hard to modulate her voice and body language. It was mesmerising to watch her in action.

Recreating Alizeh’s Look

• One would have to design the look based on individual eye shape. If you have enough surface area on the upper lid, then start by applying either an eye shadow primer or a neutral cream shadow to the entire lid.

• Take a neutral brown shadow and define the crease, followed by a skin-coloured eyeshadow with some sheen/frost and apply it on the upper lid, extending just up to the dark shadow crease created.

• Next, take a long-lasting kohl or gel liner and carve out the lash line on the top. And then with a darker brown shadow, go over that whole line and smudge it out softly to give it a smouldering effect. Also pull the line out of the eyes a bit to give a lifted effect to the eyes. Use gel [liner] inside the eyes.

• Use either the pencil or the same gel liner under the lower lashes all the way from the inside to the outside, and repeat the same process as the top lid, before joining the bottom line.

Namrata Soni

on redefining aspirational beauty

Sonam Kapoor in Aisha (2010)

Aisha changed the way Hindi cinema looked at make-up and hair. When I first met Rhea Kapoor, Pernia [Qureshi, stylist], and Rajshree Ojha [filmmaker], they were clear that we needed Sonam [Kapoor] to be Sonam. Aisha was aspirational for young girls, and the brief was girl-next-door, but elevated.

We did a no-make-up make-up look for Sonam for most of the film, apart from portions such as the salsa song. I had an amazing team of hair and make-up with me, who made the look what it was. In those days, I remember everyone having these ringlets in their hair, and we wanted to change that around and keep it modern, but boho at the same time. We did beautiful waterfall braids and ones that look like hairbands.

Sonam’s look was done with just a liner with pink lips and cheeks, and it was so endearing. I think it was Sonam who just brought this character to life. She always allowed us to do what we needed to do. Something that really excited us was the nail polish. Every look of hers was accompanied by a different nail colour! By the end of it, we were exhausted because when we were doing patchwork for the film, imagine changing the polish five times a day! We decided never again, but it was so much fun. There were about 50 outfits for Sonam in the film. We curated books with the looks, detailing the make-up, hair, style, etc., so that it would be easier for us to recreate every look even five months later.

Recreating Aisha's Look

• It was about looking effortlessly flawless. Make sure to do skin prep properly. Use the right corrector, foundation and concealer. If living in humid conditions, use powder and set your make-up.

• After that, do a wash of a peachy pink eyeshadow and use a thin, almost dark brown invisible eyeliner, and curled lashes. I actually did individual cluster lashes for Sonam. Do the lining tight and smudge very close to the lashes.

• Then use a nude or a rose gold eye pencil inside the eyes to make them pop. When you’re doing light colours for the eyes, it can tend to get dull.

• Curl the lashes and get at least one coat of mascara. Fill in the gaps with some cluster lashes to complete the look. Use a pink blush on the apples of the cheeks, blended outwards.

• For the lips, go for a tinted pink lip balm. If pigmented, cover them up with a lip pencil and fill the lips with a hydrating lipstick. Then use a cream-to-powder highlighter on the skin to make it look soft and pretty.

Mickey Contractor

on stripping back glamour to reveal modern femininity

Alia Bhatt in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023)

Karan [Johar] wanted Alia [Bhatt] not to look like a girl, but a woman. He wanted her to look like a sexy working woman of today, who is confident and gorgeous. The only thing that I could think of at the time was how do we make it look different from the regular. So, I told Karan, “What if we take away too much make-up from her, but within the glamour milieu?” Most Bengali women love to work on their eyes. So, we focused on that and didn’t put any base on her. There was no foundation on Alia’s skin throughout the film. We only worked with cream blushes so that they would give that extra glow. And then we did nude lips. It worked beautifully with all these saris that she was wearing and the silver jewellery and all that. As long as you’re confident of who is shooting the film, it works out. Manush [Nandan, the director of photography] has done a great job of lighting Alia. On the first day [of filming], we can determine whether a look will work on an actor based on the lighting pattern.

Instead of covering the skin, we’d do a lot of skin prep. There’s a certain realness to skin this way. That’s what made this look different.

Recreating Rani's Look

• Start with moisturiser and spritz with a hydrating mist.

• Do a quick dab of concealer and set with loose powder.

• Tap on eye base and roughly line lid with gel liner; blend and diffuse. Then, tightline the eyes. Lightly drape on brown eyeshadow; diffuse shadow under lower lash line.

• Do a touch of highlighter on the brow bone.

• Cut to size and apply lashes, followed by a light coat of mascara. Define the lower lash line lightly with black eyeshadow; fill and set the brow.

• Tap on cream blush and highlighter.

• Line the lip and dab on nude lipstick. Finish it with a touch of gloss.

Umesh Pawar

on minimalism across eras

Trisha Krishnan in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (2010) and Ponniyin Selvan (2022)

Gautam sir [Vasudev Menon, director] wanted her character, Jessie, to look like a typical Mallu girl. So, we kept the make-up simple and crimped her hair to create some texture. She was a typical office-going girl of Chennai. We had done a lot of heavy make-up for Trisha before Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, but Gautam sir wanted a soft look for the film. Working with Trisha has been such a memorable part of my life.

The make-up was quite simple for her character, Kundavai [in Ponniyin Selvan] too. We covered up the under eye and used a liquid tint on the lips and the cheeks to get a natural glow. We smudged a brown liner on the eyes with a wing. We didn’t use any lashes, but just mascara.

I worked with Rohini Kadam for hair. It took us a month to design the hair. We did around three to four look tests, after which a look was finalised. We had to attach all the hair jewellery, piece by piece on the bun. It would take us about three hours to get the hair and make-up ready every day. Vikram Gaikwad oversaw the entire film and gave us references for the looks.

Recreating Jessie's Look

• You get wavers today, with which you can create the texture on the hair.

• Cover the under eyes a bit and get the skin tone right with a tint or foundation with a light hand.

• Go for soft pinks on the cheeks and choose a lip balm over a lipstick.

Moovendhar

on resurrecting cinematic legacy

Keerthy Suresh in Mahanati (2018)

The producers showed us so many references to get the look right. Although I have seen a lot of Savitri Amma’s movies [the film is a based on the legendary actor’s life], I got a lot of artistic support from the team, especially in the form of books.

The eyebrows were the most complicated part of the look. During those days, women used to wear their eyebrows a lot higher. So, I had to cover the real eyebrows with wax and do this up. We used lashes for the upper and lower lashes.

The make-up in those days was very different, and the usage of Eastmancolor made things so much more interesting. I have been working in the field for the past 27 years, but this movie remains unforgettable. I remember how they issued just one photo from the film before its release, and it really took off. The producer, Swapna [Dutt] ma’am, immediately called me and told me what a great job I did in the film. Keerthy Suresh gave us so much support for the role because the look took so much time to finish. The first shot itself would roll only at 11.30 a.m. because the make-up was given so much importance.

Savitri ma’am’s hair used to be quite curly. Unlike actresses like Vanisri, she didn’t have properly set hair. We made a wig modelled on her film looks for Mahanati.

Recreating Savitri's Look

• Eyebrows, eyes and lips are super important for this look. When it comes to the lips, you can overline the upper lip to make sure the lips look evenly coloured.

• Use a lot of reds and oranges for the lips.

• Always focus on adding under lashes.

Introduction by and as told to Sruthi Ganapathy Raman.

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