10 Bollywood Actor’s Who Donned Prosthetic Make-Up’s To Look The Part

The first time Shah Rukh Khan donned prosthetics for a film was ‘Fan’. Though ‘Fan’ boasted of having Keitan Yadav, one of the biggest VFX artists on broad to develop the character of Gaurav Chadana but it was noted make-up artist, Greg Cannom who was the unsung hero. Greg Cannom got Shah Rukh sitting for almost four-five hours every day to get Gaurav’s look which involved taping up his face, attached fillers to his eyebrows, plumpers inserted in his mouth without disturbing Shah Rukh’s iconic dimples.

Prosthetic makeup artist and hair technician, Sjaan Gillings was specially roped by the makers of ‘Dhoom 2’ for Hrithik Roshan’s disguises he donned with the help of prosthetics. Be it a dwarf, old lady or old man, Hrithik just nailed it by donning multiple characters. That year he repeated using prosthetics in ‘Krrish’ too when he had to play Rohit Mehra. To look the aged Rohit Mehra in ‘Krrish’ he had to spend nearly four and half hours before getting ready to shoot the scene. To make those scenes look real prosthetic expert, Mike Stringer of ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy fame was flown in to do the make-up and prosthetics.

Amitabh Bachchan who played the role of a 12-year-old boy suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Progeria in the movie ‘Paa’, had to don prosthetics to look the character. Though Big B was highly praised for his performance in the film and bagged all the popular awards that year but the real hero was make-up man Stephen Dupuis
who made it happen and deserved all credit for the look in the film.

Director Manoj Agarwal made Govinda sport 11 get-ups in his comedy caper, ‘Hadh Kardi Aapne’ where he played the father, mother, sister, grandmom, Chinese, Arab, Maharashtrian, Sardar, etc. Mohanty, Ramesh Mohate and Pradeep Premgirikar were credited for special makeup effects artist for this Govinda film. Though the efforts gone in for the prosthetics weren’t something to write home about but keeping Indian standards in mind they were laudable.

The master of disguises, Kamal Haasan is known for donning different getups to look the character. Two occasions straight away strike your mind where the veteran actor put on prosthetics – ‘Hindustani’ and ‘Chachi 420’. The dubbed version of Tamil film ‘Indian’, ‘Hindustani’ had him playing a veteran freedom fighter who turns a vigilante to uproot corruption. The producers engaged Hollywood make-up artists Michael Westmore and Michael Jones who worked on the looks of senior Kamal Haasan and his screen wife Sukanya in the film. This was followed by makeup artists -Barry R Koper, Karthik, and Michael Westmore transforming Kamal Haasan yet again in ‘Chachi 420’ where he played an aging nanny.

Rishi Kapoor who played a 90-year-old man in Shakun Batra’s ‘Kapoor & Sons’ too had to don prosthetics to look his character and age in the film. The actor had to sit nearly five hours to get his prosthetic make-up done before the camera rolled. The make-up was done by American make-up artist Greg Cannom of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and ‘Titanic’ fame, for which the producers had to cough up a whopping Rs 2 crore to get the perfect look.

‘Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive’ saw actor Sikandar Kher playing dual roles that of American white skinned David Dosomething and the potbellied Punjabi Hollywood producer David Chaddha, respectively. The actor received praises for both his roles in the film but the prosthetics that he donned for David Dosomething’s character was something hard to recognize. His character was the only bright spot in this otherwise forgettable sequel.

This superhero film by debutant director Satyajit Bhatkal had Darsheel Safary playing the lead role but it was seasoned actor Anupam Kher’s dual act which grabbed the most attention. Anupam Kher played two different characters, Deshraj (Kunal's uncle) and Dr. Vivek Roy, for which he had to don prosthetics to look the part. The actor had to spend five hours in one sitting to get the right make-up for which a special make-up expert from France, Guillaume Castange and his team had to be flown in to get the right look.

The official remake of Tamil movie ‘Poove Unakkaga’(1996), ‘Badhaai Ho Badhaai’ saw Anil Kapoor playing an obese guy who falls for Kirti Reddy. But, later transforms himself into a thin and lean guy to impress her. Anil Kapoor’s transformation from a thin to fat guy needed a lot of prosthetics, especially his face. Though Anil Kapoor worked very hard for the role but couldn’t get the cash registers ringing at the box-office.

Rajkummar Rao is the latest entrant to join the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan. Though Rajkummar doesn’t play the lead in Dinesh Vijan’s ‘Raabta’, it is Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon who will be holding center-stage. Rajkummar went almost unrecognizable when the first look of his character was revealed where he plays a tattooed man of 324 years. One is sure that Rajkummar Rao’s prosthetic makeup would’ve taken hours to make his character look believable.