Makeup artist Dikshita Jindal on her viral video: I really hope Shah Rukh Khan gets to see my Pathaan look and like it
Makeup artist Dikshita Jindal who has recreated looks of over a 100 Indian celebrities aspires to someday work in the movies, and is grateful that her latest reel where she transformed into Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan look, has received so much love.
For makeup artist Dikshita Jindal, transforming into different celebrities might just be passion turned profession, but for those who follow her videos on Instagram, it’s nothing short of magic. Using prosthetics and special-effects makeup techniques, the 25-year-old, who hails from Delhi, has successfully recreated looks of over a 100 Indian celebrities.
Her latest reel, where she created Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan look, has already crossed 13.4M views in just 20 days. “It was crazy how people love this Pathaan transformation video. I uploaded and within a day, it garnered so many views,” tells us an excited Jindal.
The artist, currently in Canada, pursuing professional makeup studies in advanced prosthetic effects makeup, shares, “I found SRK’s look in Pathaan very intriguing and fascinating. Plus, I loved the movie, its VFX, storyline and the Hollywood feel in it. When I sat down to do this look, it was just for fun, but I really enjoyed it, because I was doing a transformation after a long time, as I was busy with shifting and studies. Now that it has gone viral, I really hope Shah Rukh sees it, likes it and comments on it.”
Talking about her tryst with makeup, Jindal recalls being very passionate about makeup since childhood. Then, while she studied engineering, she bought a makeup kit from her savings and tried her hand at fun videos.
“I saw a few international artists transforming themselves into global celebs, and I got really inspired. I thought to myself, ‘Why don’t I do it for Bollywood celebrities?’ So, I tried some looks with Indian celebs. That’s how I started practising and learnt the skills,” explains Jindal, who looks up to acclaimed British drag artist Alexis Stone and Brazilian makeup artist Leticia Gomes.
These transformations are, however, no cakewalk, and a lot goes into making them realistic and getting the intricacies right, asserts Jindal.
“On average, it takes me about five to seven hours to do a transformation look. But there’s a lot of research that goes into it beforehand and also afterwards — during editing,” she shares, adding, “Also, when I finalise a celebrity for transformation, I also choose a particular song or dialogue so that I can mimic in the video. Sometimes, I watch a lot of their videos, discuss with my friends to get everything right.
Jindal reveals that the longest it has ever taken her to recreate a celebrity look was 15 hours, when she transformed into late actor Siddharth Shukla. “It was quite difficult and challenging because of his face cut and minute details,” says the artist, whose work was praised by actor Anupam Kher, who also shared it on his social media when she got into Kher’s look.
While Jindal is happy that people are noticing her skills and appreciating it, too, she feels India has a huge market for prosthetic makeup and a lot of it has to do with the evolving film industry.
“Many people in India don’t know that makeup is used differently in different industries. For example, in fashion shows, films, on TV, in dramas, for brides — it’s all used differently. I see the prosthetics and special-effects makeup industry growing in the future — there are so many films that require artists to make bruises, cuts, do dusty makeup etc. For example, in the movie ‘83 (2021), we saw Ranveer Singh being transformed into cricketer Kapil Dev using prosthetics, and he looked so real. So, it’ll only grow in the coming times,” says Jindal, gushing that she aspires to work in Indian and Hollywood films some day and “be a part of a Marvel movie or share screen space with Shah Rukh Khan”.
