A quick chat with Madiha Qaiser, the make up artist for “Shah”

ARY Films’ Shah is gaining critical praise for bringing an unsung Pakistani real-life hero to the silver screen. While the revival of Lollywood is decked with glamour and star power to bring in audiences, Shah, made on a limited budget, rests more on good story-telling and characterizations.

Galaxy Lollywood had a quick chat with Madiha Qaiser, make-up artist for the film, to find out just her experience with the project.

Q1- How did ‘Shah’ happen for you? Have worked on any film/ TV serials before this?

I’ve known Adnan Sarwar for a while. It all happened when he approached me earlier this year having faith that I could do a project like this.

I’ve done TV serials before and have worked on another film called Bachaana starring Sanam Saeed, Mohib Mirza and Adeel Hashmi releasing end of this year InshaAllah.

Q2- Does make-up get its due importance in our nascent industry?

No

Q3- Shah is not a glamorous movie, focusing more on realistic characters. How does your make-up style change for such thematic films?

It varies from project to project. For Shah all the focus was on making the characters look realistic and relatable as much as possible. Plus since it’s a boxing film it required a lot of special effects makeup which was very challenging but also very exciting.

Q4- What was the most difficult aspect of working on the movie?

Trying to create makeup looks according to the weather and scenes. My aim was to make it look fresh in such remote locations.

Q5- What is your message for prospective make-up artists and stylists wishing to get into Lollywood?

It’s not all glitz and glamour it’s a lot of hard work, long working hours and physically draining profession as far as films are concerned. But at the same time it’s very rewarding to see your work on the big screen and people appreciating it.