By Subhash K Jha
MUMBAI: Vidya Balan donning an assortment of amiable aliases in Bobby Jasoos is not the first major star of Bollywood to look unrecognizable in various disguises.
Before Vidya, Vidya’s co-star Amitabh Bachchan was completely unrecognizable as made up as a child suffering from Progeria in Paa.Getting the Big B ready every morning was an ordeal
Shudders director R Balki, “It took the make-up man four hours every morning. Once the makeup was done Amitji could’t eat, drink or go to the bathroom. We were all petrified about his health. But this is not an ordinary man. He went through the long and painful process day after day for four hours.”
Unrecognizable in his own right was Kamal Haasan in Chachi 420. He had to dress up as a nanny to his screen daughter and had to also look attractive enough for the little girl’s grandfather Amrish Puri to fall in love with. The actor used an aunt as a reference point for his character .The tireless perfectionist spent hours over the disguise.
“Getting into the skin of the character was very important. I didn’t want to mimic a woman’s body language or clothes. I wanted to feel talk, walk and react like an actual woman,” says the chameleon Kamal about the best and most convincing drag-act ever in Indian cinema.
When Shabana Azmi decided to play a witch in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Makdee she didn’t know what she was getting into.
Says the method actress, “It was harrowing, to say the least. The make-up used to take forever .When I looked at myself in the mirror I couldn’t recognize myself.And then on top of it all, to have my husband comment, ‘Why did you need makeup to look like a witch?’ was too much.”
Unrecognizable in her own right in all the disguises that she takes on is Vidya Balan in Bobby Jasoos. The actress goes through any number of look-changes, each more startling than the previous one.
Producer Dia Mirza gives full credit to her team. “The team at work on Vidya’s looks and get-ups was irreproachable. Vidyadhar Bhatt who is a powerhouse talent did the special makeup.Theia Tekchndaney was the costume designer. So we were spoilt for choices.The challenge was in choosing which look we went with . They made every option at the time of the looks test so real, so convincing and yet they made it so tenable for a character to put together if she had the access to the costumes and makeup.”
Which of the disguises was the most difficult to do? “The disguise of the maulvi in the opening sequence was the most time-consuming. It took us about 3 hours during the looks test to polish it up.”
Dia says Vidya took about an hour to get into each disguise. “All the departments including makeup and costumes were clear about what needed to be done.”
