Perspective Talks From The Make-Up Artist Of The 55 Crore Indian Wedding Extravaganza!

Not everyone who has reached great heights in life would say, I never think of fame as a factor and I'm just like any other professional in my career. It takes a lot of humility and being sensitive to the people around you. Meet the wonderfully down to earth, super talented, happy soul Renju Renjimar, a Kerala based celebrity favorite Make-Up Artist! Hardly two minutes into the talk about Renju's recent client, Dr.Arthi Pillai the daughter of Mr.Ravi Pillai who broke the media with a 55 Crore Wedding Celebration news, we knew we've got in touch with the right person to give us an insight on the Wedding. We've got some interesting news, you wouldn't want to miss this! It was like winning a lottery, working with Dr. Arthi Pillai, one of the beautiful Brides I have loved being a Make-Up Artist for! I'm Renju, I'm a make-up artist working with the film industry and lot of television events. After I had done a make-up project recently in Manorama Channel I received a call from someone who contacted me after seeing my work on the show. I was quite taken aback when I heard it was Dr.Ravi Pillai's wife. With just about 5 days away from Aarthi's engagement they wanted a Trial Make-Up sitting and they were very confident about me doing it for Aarthi. After the trial make up, Aarthi's mom turned to me and said I'll give you a 11 points out of 10!. A proud moment for me indeed! To be honest my reply to What is that secret thing you do like a magic and the person becomes beautiful after your make-up is I just plainly highlight the beauty and features that are unique reasons for a person's beauty. I'm thankful to God for blessing me with such artistic discerning to make someone look beautiful with my make-up. Aarthi has a very clear and healthy skin that normally just glows. With the little bit of my make-up work, she just turned out to look like a goddess I must say! It was altogether seven events at Dr. Aarthi Pillai's Wedding and the family was kind enough to let me do make-up for all seven events. A three day span of working out make overs was such a wonderful challenge and I had a great time! For the Engagement, I did a semi-modern kind of look for Aarthi, the entire getting decked up part took about 2 and a half hour time span. Everyone including some of the celebrity figures made sure to drop back-stage just to appreciate me on the Make-Up. It felt like the greatest compliment when all the celebrities I always look up to, appreciated my work. Mehendi was a beautiful event. We went on a complete North Indian style of make-up and outfit for Aarthi. Every style we tried on seemed to fit well for this beautiful bride. The Thali Kattu was in Tirupathi, I think Aarthi was one of the very few brides who looked traditional with a loose hair and side partition. More than traditional I felt she looked like goddess Sita herself! Another 2 to 2 and a half hour it took for the Bridal Make-Up and outfit etc. The Muhurtham was at 7.00 AM. Imagine my plight of trying to work the timing. But I had so much fun and support from the Bride too. By 1.30 we were driving off and then by 3.30 PM to the airport to reach Guruvayur by 5.00 PM. By the time we got back it was 10.00 PM and the make-up stayed throughout still making Aarthi glow like a queen. Wedding make-up was a mix of traditional and trendy make-up and hair-do. We did have some difficulty at the Wedding Ceremony in Kollam. A wedding is no fun without these twists. We did not have enough space to work on the make-up, so we had to rush back and forth from Aarthi's house and the Venue. I had to fit in the entire Bridal session in just one and a half hour. I was a little bit scared. Not for the make-up work but the stage it was humongous and Aarthi as usual dazzled and stole the show with her beauty and the way she carried herself and the outfit. The part I loved at the wedding was the Radham in gold, in which Aarthi was made to sit in to be taken to the Wedding Pandal, she truly looked as if goddess Sita had come alive. Same day I also had another shoot after Aarthi's second saree change but we were able to manage things! Reception was an absolute fun style makeup with modern and trendy strokes, high pony tail, smokey eyes and her navy blue Saree made Aarthi stand out even among a thousands who came to bless the couple. A famous Photographer, the handsome Raja Jai came up to me and mentioned that in his 14 years of Photography career, my work was the best make-up he has ever come across! It was such an honour and an emotional moment for me. My eyes were filled with tears, even now to think of that compliment puts me in an emotional state.

My proud moment was when Aarthi herself mentioned that there were many last minute twists and fails with most of the things at the wedding, with outfits and a few other things but make-up was the only thing that was perfect throughout and that she could trust me completely which whatever choices and changes I made. After every photo shoot before going to the venue I made sure I did smaller final touch up's which really helped Dr. Aarthi. Some people also mentioned about rumors that I am expensive after having worked with a lot of celebrity clients, which is not true. Although all these compliments and opportunities come my way, I feel I'm still normal. I'm like any other professional who is a Make-Up artist and love what they do. To all you beautiful brides out there, these days there are so many ways you can refer to find details and know things. Make use of that wisely. A lot of people might say this can't be done or that can't be done, but it's nothing like that. With proper information, beautiful things can be done just the way you've wanted it to be! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwoM4v4y5FU&feature=youtu.be Photo and Video Courtesy: Shine Thirumala