Turning actors into characters

Pattanam Rasheed is the National award recipient for best make-up artiste. It is another feather in his cap for this make-up artiste as he wins the National Award for best make-up artiste for P.T. Kunhimohammed’s ‘Paradesi.’

National Award - winning make up artist Pattanam Rasheed. Photo: H. Vibhu

If an artist creates his masterpieces on canvas, make-up artiste Pattanam Rasheed creates his on the human body.The winner of several Kerala State Awards for best make-up artiste Rasheed feels the award is in recognition of his work (25 years) in this field.

“I had expected a joint award for ‘Kanchipuram’ too, in which Prakash Raj won the best actor award. I had worked on his look too. But the work put in for ‘Paradesi’ is more. The movie traces the lives of the characters over a period of 50 years. I had to help them age gracefully,” says Rasheed.

‘Paradesi’

‘Pardesi,’ which is about a man’s quest for identity, has Mohanlal playing the lead character, Valiyakkathu Moosa. Says Rasheed: “The movie shows his character during three stages of his life – 35, 60 and 80. As we are living in a digital age, we were able to re-create the changes in terms of aging through computer graphics. It gave us an idea on how a particular look (make-up) would blend in with the character.”

The movie also depicts Moosa with a receding hairline in the latter half of the film. “Instead of Mohanlal shaving his hair off for the look, here we have used prosthetic make-up. We created a mould for the bald look,” says Rasheed who learnt the art of prosthetic make-up under Barry Cooper, a well-known make-up artiste from Hollywood, while working on Kamal Hassan’s ‘Chachi 420.’

According to Rasheed, people often think a make-up artiste’s job is easy. “They think it’s all about doing up an actor’s face, but it is not. We have to do up the parts that are visible on camera too. The latest cameras capture the smallest of details so you have to ensure each wrinkle, each crease on the skin looks natural. It also helps the actors get into the skin of character,” says the man who has won the State film awards for his work in ‘Guru,’ ‘Kunjikoonan’ and ‘Anandabhadram’ to name a few.

Becoming a make-up artiste was never on Rasheed’s mind. Says the 50-year-old Rasheed: “It was my brother Pattananam Shah, a make-up artiste, who introduced me to the field.”

Although Rasheed got his break in cinema through Navodaya’s ‘Onnu Muthal Poojayam Vare,’ it was T.V. Chandran’s ‘Ponthan Mada’ that got him noticed. “In fact, Mammootty, who played the lead role in the movie, said that the make-up helped make his character look realistic. He won the National Award for his role in the movie,” says Rasheed.

Rasheed has just completed his work in the movies ‘Kutty Shrank’ and ‘Yugapurashan.’ He is currently working on the Mohanlal-starrer ‘Angel John.’ “I’m also working on two Tamil films- ‘Madrasi Pattanam’ and ‘Orruku Kota, Murruttu Singham.’ While ‘Madrasi Pattanam’ is a period film, ‘Orrukku?’ has a cowboy theme to the movie.”