The Supreme Court on Monday revoked a ban on women make-up artists working in Mumbai film industry.
Back home in Karnataka, there is no such ban, but very few have chosen this profession.
Meenakshi H. is the only female make-up artist working in the Kannada television and film industry.
While she welcomed the court order, she says it will take years for the mindset to change in a male-dominated field. For instance, the Karnataka Make-up Artists and Hairdressers Union does not have a single woman member.
Meenakshi restricts her work to television and ad films, and lets her male counterparts do the make-up for the big stars of Kannada cinema. One of the reasons is the television schedules and locations are more predictable than those of films. “Make-up artists are the first to come to a set and the last to leave, and the schedule is very punishing,” she points out.
Meenakshi said she had no choice but to take up the profession for a livelihood, after her husband Mallesh H., a renowned make-up professional, died in 2007.
The issue came to the fore last year after a renowned make-up artist from Chennai was denied permission to work in a Kannada film. Office-bearer of the union Uma Maheshwar said there was no ban on women working as make-up artists.
“As per our rules, everyone must take membership as an apprentice for six months before working in films,” he said.
