Prosthetic Use of Make-Up in Films

Actors need to become the characters they play.  Sometimes to get into the skin ( literally) of the varying ages they need to enact, the use of Prosthetic Make-Up / FX Prosthetic comes to play. FX the terminology is used as it is fake special effects to the skin. Ranbir Kapoor was once heard saying he becomes the character after his hair and make-up is in place.

 Here’s what Prosthetic Make up is about :

Artificial layer to the natural skin, made with chemicals, clay or silicon to create wrinkles, older skin/ younger skin, spots or varied features, depending upon the character’s need for a certain look.  The process involves the actor to be tested for any allergy that this make up may attract.  Post this, many looks are tried and the one which comes closest to looking like the character is finalized.  Actors often need to imbibe patience to go through this rigorous make-up session as it takes several hours to re-create the face. Once its applied, they are prohibited from eating or drinking water for a couple of hours.

1.) Shahrukh Khan | FAN 

To create a 20-something obsessive Fan, who goes by the character name Gaurav, a complete transformation was needed for Shahrukh.  Three time Oscar winner Greg Cannom was brought in for the job.

As quoted by Shahrukh - "I was the oldest one on the set. All these kids were very patient with me. Wearing the prosthetics wasn't easy. I used to get irritated as the sweat used to stick on the face. But they did bear with me. We have worked very hard so that it does not look unreal. Also, as I am a known face, it is not easy to play a 50-year-old and then do a more than half-age character.”

The results are amazing and we can’t wait for it to release soon.

2. Rishi Kapoor | Kapoor and Sons 

Rishi Kapoor’s undying passion is seen and he is surely getting better at his craft. The senior actor devoted around 5 hours each time during the production of his scenes. The same American Artist of FAN, Greg Cannom was hired to work his magic and make Rishi ji look like an adorable 90+ dadu.

As quoted by Rishi Kapoor : “I am surprised and shocked. This is not a very big-budgeted film. The charges of creating my face and the after charges of his travel, his stays in hotels, his assistants is exorbitant. It’s almost Rs 2 crore. I don’t know if any producer who would keep Rs 2 crore for the make-up of Rishi Kapoor. It’s impossible, nobody does that. But I am happy that we are evolving, we are going ahead. Hindi films are experimenting”. Revealing more about his look, ““He took several weeks to design my face. He took a mold of my face. I have had eight applications put on my face—my bald cap, my nose, my two cheeks, my two hands and my quadruple chin. It was made of Silicon”

3. Amitabh Bachchan in Paa 

Amitabh Bachchan had to play a 13 year old kid who is affected by a rare disorder Progeria, which made him look 5 times his age. For the same, Hollywood’s prosthetic make-up artist Christien Tinsley was flown in to give shape to the transformation. It took about 5 hours to apply the 8 different layers of clay and 2 hours to remove the same. During the period of application, Amitabh Bachchan was not allowed to eat, drink or talk.  He was patient and co-operative through the process and even wore specially designed dentures which helped him to speak like a child. Kudos to artists who show such great involvement and co-operation to play their characters.

4.  Aamir Khan In PK and Dangal : 

The filmmakers of PK tried several looks on Aamir before the final alien look was created, as we have already seen. One was as a warrior, one as a Blonde Young Man and another with ruffled hair. Aamir approved of the flattened hair, green lens and popping ears as the final look as it made him look innocent and child-like. Reports suggest, he will be undergoing prosthetic make up for Dangal as well, to convincingly play a father og grown up kids.

5.) Richa Chadda, Priety Zinta and Vidya Balan

These lovely leading ladies have adorned a prosthetic belly to appear pregnant in their films.  The size of the belly has been enlarged to match natural pregnancy. They have been able to portray their role with conviction as mothers – to- be.

We are really impressed with the hard work of the artists and integrity of the actors!