Marathi actresses go de-glam for their onscreen roles

With cinema turning realistic, more and more female actors are seen sporting a natural look in Marathi films. While character requirement is the main reason for filmmakers to opt for a practical look for their actresses, an industry overhaul and global competition has also brought about this change. Here’s a glimpse of the girl-next-door looks of some actresses in upcoming projects and recent releases.

Amruta Khanvilkar
Baji (Releasing February 6, 2015)
Amruta plays Shreyas Talpade’s lady love in the superhero film 'Baji'. As a simple village girl, the actress will be seen sporting minimal makeup in the film.
Amruta said, “Director Nikhil Mahajan was certain that he wanted a realistic look for his film. So for the first time I have shot an entire film wearing almost no makeup barring a few scenes where I used a bit of concealer and lip balm. Despite shooting in the sun and rain sequences I wasn’t allowed to put anything more than that so I would be ready in minutes. In fact, at times Nikhil would even rub a tissue paper on my face to check if I had put any extra makeup.” Though Amruta was wary about the shooting sans makeup, she has had compliments coming her way after people saw her in the trailer. “Fans who have mostly seen me in a glam avatar have been telling me that I’m looking natural in the film. It’s heartening to see this transition of thought among the audience,” she added.

Sonalee
Mitwaa (Releasing February 13, 2015)
Sonalee’s character in her upcoming film 'Mitwaa' has an underlying grey shade because of which the actress has been given a dreary look.
Sonalee said, “My character in 'Mitwaa' faces some tragedy initially in life which matures her early. So my face constantly had to reflect a certain level of stress and tiredness apart from maturity. While doing the makeup there was a deliberate attempt to retain my dark circles and use nude and dull lip colours. Even my costumes are mostly in pastel shades and my hair has been given a simple straight look.” Sonalee agrees that filmmakers prefer natural makeup nowadays. “Audience today prefers watching characters they can identify with. Making actors look realistic is one of the ways to achieve better audience connect.”

Spruha Joshi
Bioscope (upcoming)
In 'Bioscope', which comprises four short stories, Spruha will be seen in filmmaker Viju Mane’s 'Ek Hota Kau'. The trailer of the film has Spruha wearing negligible makeup in the film.
Talking about Spruha’s look, director Viju Mane said, “We have given Spruha a subtle look as my story is based in the 90s, when grooming wasn’t so advanced like today and people were not that experimental with their appearance.” Commenting on increasing filmmakers lending a natural look to actors in their films, Mane added, “The entire functioning of the industry and the way directors treat their films has evolved over time and so has the look of actors. A realistic look is not just about looking natural in terms of makeup or hair, even the attire and lingo have to go hand in hand which has also changed and become matter-of-fact. But a realistic look has to be genre specific. It may not work for a masala film which has to have a dose of glam.”

Sonali Kulkarni
Dr Prakash Baba Amte – The Real Hero (Released in October 2014)
When Sonali went all natural to adapt the look and lifestyle of Manda Amte, social activist Dr Prakash Amte’s wife, in this biopic based on the real-life couple’s life, she received a lot of praise.
The actress said, “An artist has to understand the style of the character to look genuine. There was no scope to decorate Manda’s character as fashion for her was to serve the society. But that does not mean that she does not have style. She had a natural elegance to her entire being, which I only had to adapt. Makeup artist Vikram Gaikwad and director Samruddhi Porey helped in maintaining that simplicity in my look.” Like Mane, Sonali too feels that the look of a character has to be true to the subject and is genre specific. “In my upcoming Kedar Shinde film, I have a glam look as the script demands it,” she added.
Director Samruddhi said, “Marathi cinema has reached a global platform and filmmakers are increasingly making films that can cope with international standards of filmmaking. Giving Sonali a realistic look was mandatory.”

Smita Tambe
Candle March (Released in December 2014)
We saw Smita go makeup free in 'Candle March', which talks about the sexual atrocities faced by women. The actress played the wife of a taxi-driver, who is one of the four rapists, in the film. Earlier also Smita had portrayed a no makeup look in the Akshay Kumar production '72 Mail Ek Pravas'.
Smita said, “My look in a film is my last priority. I have never been bothered about it. In fact, I feel lucky that I am getting to portray so many different characters in my films.”

Amusingly, while actresses are sporting a natural look, the men in the industry seem to be paying much more attention to their look and makeup needs. The recently released 'Madhyamvarg', which marked the debut of Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishen in Marathi cinema, saw Siddharth Jadhav’s makeup man going overboard with Siddharth’s lip colour. Siddharth’s pink lips were quite an eyesore onscreen and didn’t really go well with his hard-hitting cop role. Ditto in Aditya Sarpotdar’s upcoming movie 'Classmates' where actors Ankush Choudhari and Siddharth Chandekar are seen wearing an obvious pink lip shade in the song 'Yaariyan'.