Meet the man behind Radikaa’s viral makeover in 'Thaai Kizhavi'

Turning Radikaa Sarathkumar into Pavunuthaayi in Thaai Kizhavi wasn’t just about adding wrinkles to her face for Vineesh Vijayan, who did the prosthetic makeup for the veteran actress. Instead, he says he had to approach the transformation like he was sculpting a new character.“Firstly, we did a 3D scan of Radikaa ma’am to make a silicone bodysuit for her to wear. To achieve the aged look, we used latex (stretching the skin and applying liquid latex), which naturally wrinkles the skin,” he shares, adding that the transformation was done to change the actress’ body language. Stating that the transformation was physically demanding for Radikaa, Vineesh shares, “She had an issue with her knee at that time and had undergone surgery. The heavy bodysuit triggered her knee pain, but she was patient and cooperative,” he says.According to Vineesh, the main challenge was the weather, which he says “was too hot, causing the latex to come off”and that he “had to constantly do the touch-up”.Director Sivakumar Murugesan, he states, was clear that Radikaa should wear a real thandatti . “A thandatti is a heavy ornament. I glued silicone ears to ma’am’s ears and then put on the thandatti . However, the silicone ear would come off slightly during takes, so I had to keep doing touchups and glueing it back in between takes.”Vineesh informs us that it took five hours every day to achieve the look and one more hour to remove the makeup. While digital correction is an option, Vineesh tried to avoid it. “It’s expensive. I was particular about keeping that (digital correction during post-production) to a minimum to keep costs down,” he reveals.Vinessh is now part of upcoming projects like Varanasi and Kanchana 4 . “I’ve been working on Varanasi for almost nine months now and I get to experiment a lot,” he concludes.