From Barbie doll to princess, Ash does it all in Robot

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan tries out various looks in her upcoming film with Rajnikanth, Robot, and turns out gorgeous in all. And the person she should thank is makeup man Ojas Rajani.

Rajani, who has dolled up many pretty faces in the film industry, was shifting into his new home in Bandra, in the posh western suburb of Mumbai, when Nithya Ramani caught up with him.

He tells her how he perfected Ash's face in the film.

Ash looks very glamourous in Robot.

Yes, doesn't she? She looks fab!

It's funny how I got the film. I was supposed to work on Kites but it didn't work out. I was at IIFA, working on Urmila Matondkar's look. Ash was on a world tour when she suggested that I do her looks for Robot. I have worked with Ash for more than 10 years, so there was no reason why I shouldn't do the film. I am known for the glamorous looks I give my stars and this film has so much glamour.

Her looks in Robot are varied -- sometimes tribal, sometimes ramp walk, seductress, glam goddess, cat woman... I gave her a lot of charcoal eye liners, blue and green eye shadows, hair extensions. You name it and we have tried it in Robot.

It's completely opposite to her look in Action Replayy. That's very 1980s. I have given her a lot of coral and peachy colours there.

Which is your favourite Ash look in Robot?

There are so many. She looks gorgeous in all the songs.

There's one in which she looks like a South American tribal princess. I have given her a turquoise blue eye liner. That tribal look had the feather concept. So we used a lot of feathers -- in her outfits, in her hair... We even added feathers to her eyelashes.

That song alone has about three to four looks. Each look has different feather styles. We have used yellow feathers for her red and golden outfit, where she's a sex goddess. We've used blue and black feathers also. For the black feather look, I have used a high pony with long coloured hair extensions.

There's a look where she wears a tight black outfit; she looks like a cat woman. It is a very futuristic ramp look. I gave her a high ponytail with a streak of blue extensions, and a big diamond studded band. The eyelashes are extra curled and her eye shadow is very smoky. We used a subtle light pink blush.

There is another look where she wears a champagne coloured sari. In that scene, she's supposed to seduce the villain Rajnikant. The sari looks awesome on Ash; the colour only enhances it.

What was working with Ash like?

Ash is very comfortable to work with. She is an angel. The kind of effort she puts in motivates you to give your 200 percent. I think Manish (Malhotra), Ash and I bonded so well that we didn't need to discuss too much. It was like we knew what Manish would give her, and what I was planning.

People say that any makeup will look good on Ash. That's true but I believe any look that is tastefully done will look gorgeous on her. Her eyes are her asset.

We could go wild in this film, thanks to (director) Shankar. I have worked with him in Anniyan/Aparichit and I know what he looks for. He gave me freedom to experiment.

What was the shoot like? The film was shot in different locations like Machu Pichu in Peru and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

It was very difficult but fun as well. There were times when we had to get ready at the hotel itself before we went on location. At those times, we had to wake up at 5 am. I had to get ready before Ash was ready for makeup.

Once the makeup was done, we had to make sure it remained intact during to journey to the location. Sometimes, the location would be somewhere on the mountains and we had to reach there by foot.

There was one location where we had to travel by boat. Ash would have to bend forward and all of us would cover her so that her makeup wouldn't get spoilt.