For sure you would have heard of the upcoming movie “Paa” of the all time favorite super star Amitabh Bachchan. The expensive and astonishing make-up and creative inputs by industry stalwarts have made the movie in headlines. The movie has been made within a set costing the grand amount of Rs.150 million. 

Amitabh’s looks in the movie is a topic of talks as being aged 67-year-old, he plays Auro, a progeria-afflicted 13 year old child in the movie. Amazed! The movie stars Big B, a child suffering from progeria - a rare disease of premature ageing among children, has been produced under Amitabh’s production banner AB Corp.

Discussing the film’s budget, the 67-year-old posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com: “I think we set out to make this film with certain definite plans. It would not be a penny over the Rs.15 crore (Rs.150 million) budget we had decided upon; indeed it is nominally better than that - it’s Rs.14.75 crore (Rs.147.5 million).”

As earlier said Big B plays a progeria-afflicted child in the movie, while his real life son Abhishek essays the role of his father.

He suffers from a progeria like syndrome, wherein he loses all his hair, becomes bald and the veins begin to show prominently on the heads, which enlarge to a size beyond normal. The teeth and eyes also suffer. Mentally he is 13, very normal, but physically he looks 5 times older. 

To get the special look for the character, director R. Balki roped in international make-up artist Stephan Dupuis, who did Robin Williams' make-up in Mrs. Doubtfire.

Actor Amitabh Bachchan, says he had to stick on several pieces of specially crafted clay to get the right look for the movie. Amitabh also reveals that the face and looks seen are the result of the deep research. 

Big B revealed, “The prosthetic process is arduous. Around eight pieces, specially designed through laborious clay models, are most meticulously stuck on to the face. Once the make-up starts, it is impossible to move even a few centimetres. Eating and drinking has to be avoided and you cannot talk because it displaces the pieces over the contours of the face. Separate pieces form the entire look”.

The clay was also covered on his ears and head so his hearing was impaired too. The make-up was applied as silicone covered his ears. He added, “Two small holes are bored into the skull so some sound can go through. Also when you speak it reverberates inside the skull and you constantly feel you are inside a tunnel with pronounced echo. Eye lids 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”.

To the worst he also has to shave off all his hairs on the hands, arms, chest and legs regularly to get that perfect look by coloring the veins to get it highlighted.

Not only Big B but Abhishek also has to do make up for long to play the father of his own father. Hope all this efforts work well and movie gets good review in Box-Office. 

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 7 November, 2009 3:28:25 PM IST #