But what makeup and prosthetic character designer Preetisheel Singh D’souza has managed, is more than fulfillment of that dream. Having curated looks for mega movies like Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, 102 Not Out and Chhichhore, this National Award-winning makeover specialist got a chance to work with Akshay Kumar a few years ago.

Akshay has worked with Preetisheel for a couple of projects earlier. Like the film Brothers, and for a ‘pregnant’ look she designed for him for The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Also for the Livguard advertisement, where he donned the looks of Albert Einstein and Bruce Lee.

More recently, they worked together for Housefull 4. The movie emerged a box-office blockbuster with Akshay’s song, “Bala Bala, shaitaan ka saala” becoming a rage. Around the same time, Preetisheel designed triple role looks for him, for the famous Kurkure advertisement in which he played a son, father as well as a grandfather.

And now she has managed to bag not one or two, but three prestigious projects with Akshay Kumar — Bachchan Pandey, OMG 2 and Ram Setu. Surely, all these three movies are not only high profile, but also highly anticipated by AK fans. Will they create even bigger box-office magic than Housefull 4? Time will tell.

Her different character designs include one of a transgender, an elderly woman and even of an old man. They are so convincing, that it is difficult for the viewers to believe it is the same actress playing all these roles.

Preetisheel who has worked on these looks is currently working on her forthcoming projects like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hiramandi and South star Vikram-starrer Cobra, while Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, YRF’s Bunty Aur Babli 2 and Southern star Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa are readying for release soon.

Along with her work partner-husband Mark D’souza, Preetisheel has set up India’s first makeup and prosthetic lab called Da Makeup Lab which is now a landmark in Versova, Mumbai. The talented lady is now preparing to launch the Preetisheel School of Character Design.

In the first of two cinematic parts, the film’s plot is based on the red sanders smuggling in the Seshachalam Hills of the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The look Preetisheel has designed for Allu Arjun has held not only her fans, but even her detractors spellbound.

The scruffy hair, the dark skintone, thick eyebrows and an unkempt-looking beard — all goes so very well with the carefree rustic character. It all adds to the feel of the raw intensity action role he is playing in Pushpa. The Icon Star, as he is famously called, Allu Arjun carries off the intense character with ease. And that is clearly visible in the recent song Jaago Jaago Bakre which has come up on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDCijSRWz3g&ab_channel=AdityaMovies

Anyone who has heard and seen this number and the frenzy that it is building up, knows that Pushpa is on its way to get a thunderous box-office initial.

The first part of Pushpa is scheduled to release in December 2021, with the second part in 2022, in Telugu along with dubbed versions in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada languages. Written and directed by Sukumar, the film co-stars Fahadh Faasil and Rashmika Mandanna, while the music is composed by Devi Sri Prasad.

Meanwhile, Preetisheel is currently working on her forthcoming projects like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hiramandi and South star Vikram-starrer Cobra, while Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi and YRF’s Bunty Aur Babli 2 are readying for release soon. The rest of 2021 and even 2022 looks glorious for this makeup and prosthetics supertalent.

But when it comes to compliments, she almost gets teary-eyed when she recalls a time she took her mom to meet the majestic filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

For the record, Preetisheel has done a hatrick with Bhansali, having worked for the awe-inspiring maker, first on looks of Ranveer Singh for the superhit Bajirao Mastani, then on looks of Ranveer (who can forget that Alauddin Khilji getup), Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra for another blockbuster Padmaavat. And she is working with the prolific filmmaker once again where she is curating Alia Bhatt’s look for his upcoming Gangubai Kathiawadi.

“Sanjay Sir is a gem of a person,” says Preetisheel. “He understands my work and gives me space,” she adds, stating that she has had some of her best experiences working for his movies. In a recent interview, Preetisheel recalled a time, when once she took her mom to meet Bhansali.

“When I took my mom to meet him, he told her — She (Preetisheel) does not need people like us. We need people like her!”

“Imagine how proud that made me. And imagine how proud my mom felt. It was one of the best moments of my career,” adds the look transformation wiz.

Here are some of the top controversiesof, which Deepika Padukone has been a part of:

The JNU controversy

In January 2020, Deepika Padukone made the headlines, and not for the best of reasons. She was spotted visiting the JNU campus in solidarity and support of the students who were protesting against violence. This was ahead of her then-upcoming film Chhapaak and was also the time when anti-CAA protests were at their peak. The act was applauded by many, but condemned by the rest. It was called a promotional stunt by some, while some others called her anti-national. A few months later, the controversy stirred up again when a former RAW officer, NK Sood claimed that Deepika was offered an amount of ₹ 5 crores from Aneel Mussarat, a good friend of Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

Connection with the Drug Case

The latest controversy that Deepika has been a part of is the Bollywood Drug case. It was alleged that WhatsApp chats between Deepika Padukone and her manager Karishma has been leaked, where Deepika had asked Karishma for ‘Maal’ (drugs). According to reports, both Deepika and Karishma were called by NCB for questioning.

Padmaavat

Deepika Padukone’s film Padmaavat stirred up a lot of controversy before its release. The film, inspired by the story of Queen Padmini, received a lot of backlash from Karni Sena. It was believed that the film was disrespectful to the Queen and portrayed her inappropriately. Karni Sena had gone as far as threatening the actor with chopping her nose off if the release of the film wasn’t stopped. After a struggle of two months, the film, which was originally named Padmavati, was renamed Padmaavat and released.

The Ram Leela controversy

Another one of Deepika’s movies that were at the center of the controversy was the film Goliyoon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela. Originally titled Ram Leela, the film was disapproved by the audience as it was seen as associated with Hindu Lord Ram. The controversy went as far as a police complaint against the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. The buzz died down only after a statement by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, where he mentioned that the film was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and had nothing to do with Lord Ram.

The cleavage controversy

A magazine’s post of inappropriate pictures of the actor stirred up a lot of discussion on social media regarding moral policing. Deepika handled it in a firm yet graceful manner, tweeting “Yes I am a woman. I have breasts. I have cleavage. You got a problem?”

Dum Maaro Dum controversy

In the film Dum Maaro Dum, Deepika performed an item song of the same name. Although she was praised for her dance moves, she also faced a lot of backlash for the inappropriate lyrics of the song. The song was a remix version of the original song, and this version made the original performer Zeenat Aman unhappy.

The RK tattoo controversy

Deepika had the initials of her ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor tattooed at the nape of her neck. However, after their break up, the tattoo was observed to have disappeared, There are speculations of whether she had the tattoo removed or covers it up with make-up. The tattoo wasn’t seen at her fairytale wedding with actor Ranveer Singh but could be seen by the paparazzi during the wedding of Isha Ambani.

Recently, in an article in the famous Indian-American publication India West, Preetisheel revealed how she started out and how Kamal Haasan’s look of a woman in Chachi 420 inspired her to enter the world of makeup, hair and prosthetics. Here is an excerpt from the article by veteran journalist Rajiv Vijayakar:

Born to a Sikh family in Pathankot, Singh repeatedly calls her parents “brilliant” for their unconditional support and encouragement at all times. She exults, “After I completed my B. Tech. in Engineering (Electronics & Instrumentation) in 2004, I was hired by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), but I soon realized that I was not wired for such jobs. I was giving my 100 percent, but there was nothing standout that was really happening! I told my mom I wanted to quit, and she just said, ‘Do whatever makes you happy!’”

Her parents are film fanatics and that led to Singh being floored by the 1997 “Chachi 420.” “I was blown by Kamal Haasan’s look as a woman! I came to know that they had to call in foreign technicians for it. I also started digging online into what goes into such prosthetic make-up, initially only just for knowledge. And then I thought, ‘What if I myself do all this?’”

At that time, as luck would have it, TCS had posted her in the US, and Singh resigned, invested all her savings into an expensive six-month course at the Cinema Make-Up School in Los Angeles, and in 2010, arrived in Mumbai, putting up with her sister. She made strategic rounds of producers every day, with contacts derived from JustDial—the Indian search engine.

Predictably, the response was disheartening. Most filmmakers had no clue about her special skills and no requirements either because they did not understand how different she was from the average make-up artiste. But make-up veteran Anil Pemgirikar, who is 70-plus, saw her work, praised her and promised that he would put in a word for her wherever possible.

In 2012, came her first small assignment: of a swollen eye for Akshay Kumar in “Joker,” a film that went unnoticed by the audience. That portion was shot in Chandigarh, and then came the designing of the mutants in “Krrish 3,” under U.S.-based make-up whiz, Mike Stringer.

After finishing her work on the film, in which she helped on the mutants, the production person offered her peanuts as payment and Singh refused to accept the meager remuneration. The person was furious and demanded, “Who do you think you are? Miles Stringer?” Singh recalls, “I told her not to talk to me that way, I don’t owe her anything. But she went on shouting, so I went and told Mike. He got so furious he blasted the person, saying that without me, the mutants would not have been ready on time.”

Gradually, word-of-mouth spread and she got “Nanak Shah Fakir” and “Haider.” The former needed six months prep and she was given a bungalow where she set up a full lab. “I had to do aging for men, make someone’s face fat, show a leper, a chopped off part of a body and so on.”

The rest is history.