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 Brush with beauty
Beauty is skin deep. Trying saying this in the Kodambakkam area. You will be bombarded with suspicious looks. Yes! In the tinsel world, it's beauty that sells. Variety is the spice of life. If all are equally beautiful, life will lose its glossy look, right? At least a few have to be recognised as more beautiful than the others. It's this recognition that has given the celluloid icons their place in the heart of the fans. In the silver screen, the person who adds this extra edge is the make-up artist. Jairaj is a veteran in this field.
Hailing from a village near Villupuram, Jairaj had always been a diehard fan of Sivaji Ganesan and MGR. "As soon as the movies of my favourite heroes were released, I was there for the first show. From my youth, I wanted to become an off-screen artiste. That was a passion I nurtured from the age of … mmm… I don't even remember what. I should thank my parents for letting me experiment with my career in the tinsel world at the age of 16."
"In the beginning, I did make-up for Bharatanatyam dancers. I stayed in Mylapore for 25 years. My career started with T Rajendar's movies" reminiscences Jairaj. 'Theertha Karaiyinile', 'Mythili Ennai Kadhali', 'En Kadhal Kanmani' are some of the early movies in which he worked as the chief make-up man. Added to the movies, he has done six fashion shows and eight ad films. He has his hand in doing make-up for Hollywood movies as well. Italian and French movies also have his stamp as a make-up artiste.
Though being a personal artiste for silver screen giants like Vijay, Vikram, Amala, Nagma, Jyotika, Gayathri Raghuram, Gayathri Jeyaram is not an ordinary affair, Jairaj switched over to advertisement films from the regular movies. The reason? "While doing movies, we end up wasting many days and sometimes our payments are delayed. Since the directors are always tensed, you won't feel like asking them for the payment. It's true we get the salary finally: our union helps us. However, I find that in more ways than one, ad films are benefiting."
He has done ads for Rajiv Menon's company. The recent Bru, Sunrise, Fanta, Coco-Cola, Jeeva soap ads hired Jairaj as the chief make-up man.
Talking about the hectic schedule and the stress in the profession, he says, "You need to have a lot of patience. For each and every scene, and each and every expression of the actor, you have to do the make-up."
While talking about the nuances of the profession, Jairaj says, "Make-up is an art. You need to be creative. Creativity is necessary for this profession. You must have an eye for the various structures of the face and must be able to draw the make-up accordingly. It's hard work and luck that does the trick in the field. If a movie becomes a box-office hit, the director will want the same crew for the next movie. The directors are usually sentimental when it comes to the crew of a film. Your luck matters a lot. Then comes your expertise."
"Somehow, off-screen artistes don't seem to count when it comes to the glossy world," Jairaj doesn't hide his disappointment. In spite of it, he doesn't seem to regret his profession. "However", says he, "the monetary reward shouldn't be forgotten. After all, there's great scope because the silver screen industry is flourishing leaps and bounds this century in the south."
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