Amitabh Bachchan became Auro Paa Movie Makeup Room Pictures
Amitabh Bachchan plays Auro, 12 year old boy in Paa, suffering from Progeria. There is a lot of excitement about Amitabh Bachchan’s look in Paa and how the make-up has been done. Progeria patients lose hair with veins showing prominently on their heads. The size of the head grows abnormally compared to the torso. The eye-sight is impaired, the skin is scaly and there are no eyebrows or eye lashes. International make-up artistes Kristen Timble and Domnique were summoned to work with prosthetics to perfect the Paa look.
Paa’s Progeria looks, as explained by Big B in his blog, required hours and hours of makeup. Eight specially designed prosthetics made from clay were stuck on Big B’s face. As is the norm with prosthetic makeup , the Bollywood icon couldn’t even move from an inch from his place when the make-up was being done. Amitabh Bachchan was not able to eat, drink or even talk when the prosthetics and makeup was applied, lest the pieces could be displaced . The head and ears were covered with one prosthetic unit. A couple of small holes were made in the skull so that there could be sound going to the ears, because the actual ears were blocked by silicon.
Amitabh Bachchan said that speaking was a problem with the prosthetics because whatever he spoke got echoed inside the skull and he felt as if he was inside a tunnel.In his words “Eye lids upper and lower come on close to the eyes, the forehead is another piece, the nose, the two cheeks, the upper and lower lip, the chin and finally the neck all get stuck on and then blended through an intricate electronic spray which merges all the pieces to look like one cohesive mass. In this condition then, if you develop an itch inside your face or the head it is impossible to get to it - you just bear it. To accentuate the condition of the rest of the skin on the body special make up to highlight the veins is colored on. For this I had to get all the hair on my hands and arms and chest and legs shaved clean every day. The makeup spray which has alcohol content in its construction burns as it is applied on exposed skin - but you just bear it. The heat of the lights has the ability to melt the silicon and so remaining in the sun for long is out as is non air conditioned studios.”
“5 hours to put it all on, 2 hours to take it off and 6 hours to work - at times more if we are behind schedule. Tough! But then whoever said film making was a luxury. Then for a sunrise shot you start getting ready from the previous night at about 11PM, sit through the entire night to be ready by 4-5 AM and then go on to work.” he wrote.
