Most Male Bollywood Aspirants Want A Face Like Hrithik's

Celebrity cosmetologist has 'beautified' the best of Bollywood stars. In an exclusive interview at her Santa Cruz clinic, she opened up about the challenges of having actors/actresses as her clients. Excerpts:

You cater to many Bollywood actors. How did it all start?
It actually started 13 years ago, when this top actress, who has also done international projects, walked into my clinic one day. She was very happy with our treatment and I thought, "Now, I will have a queue of people waiting outside my door." But that never happened, because nobody wants to say that work is being done on them. However, we slowly grew -- I don't know how or why, as we never put in any effort towards that -- but I started getting a lot of stars, even from the South. Now, I have a clinic in Hyderabad as well. We are also getting a lot of international clients because of huge corporates using them as models. So, that's how my whole practice has become very celebrity-centric.

How do stars ensure their privacy when they come to you?
By now, they've gotten used to my clinic. Everybody knows that we take people only by appointment and there's nobody in waiting. Even if somebody sees them coming or leaving, nobody knows what treatment they have undergone. Also, what I am best known for is, my clients can leave immediately after the procedures - there is no swelling or any other problem. So, when these celebrities step out, nobody has any idea what treatment they have undergone -- it could be for acne or just skin consultation. So, they don't actually mind. They are not that fussy (pauses).

Go on...
There is more awareness now; people know you can do a lot without having to go under the knife. So, there are injectables, with which you can shape people's lips, nose and cheeks. For example, we just worked on a couple of male stars from South -- we defined their cheeks a little bit. Most Indians have smaller chin (Micrognathia), so our men don't look very masculine from the lower half of their face. They have very rounded bones, the jawbones don't look etched and sharp. So, for men, we end up using a lot of fillers in their chin and the lower half of the face.
As they age, most stars looking tired under the eyes. That's because the fat there moves down. In such cases, we put fillers in the under eye area and also recommend the right skin care. We do mesotherapy (the practice of injecting medicines, vitamins and other ingredients into subcutaneous fat) and also use skin boosters, where we give various injections to various layers of the skin and inside, to make them look fresh and youthful. We also try to enhance the best in their face.



Can you elaborate on the enhancement?
For example, some people have a nose that bends each time they smile. One actor told me that his nose would flare up every time he delivered a dialogue. The moment he starts controlling that, his acting got affected. So, we gave him a little bit of botox so that it doesn't flare up so much. 

And when it comes to women?
A common complaint among women is that they have narrow upper lips. Some women say their upper lip folds in and disappears when they smile. So, I do a little bit of work on their upper lip. I do it judiciously else they'll end up looking like a duck. In fact, you won't even know I have done something. That's the mark of a good job. If you can point out the difference between somebody's old and new look, that's a job badly done.

What do most men want?
Hrithik Roshan has an ideal face. And most men want a face like that -- very lean, sharp and etched, with nice angles on the jaw and cheek. But there are some deficits in Indian men.


Like?
Sometimes, the frontal bossing (protrusion) is too much near the eyebrow ridge and it causes a dip in the forehead. That looks bad. In some people, there is no malar prominence (malar is a bone on each side of the face below the eye, which makes the cheek prominent), a good chin or jawline. As they grow old, the cheek area becomes fatter. On camera, it looks bigger. That's when we work on jawlines with botox and various fillers.

Who is the dream face when it comes to women?
None.

Any actor/actress you have dissuaded from getting anything done?
Lots of them. That's the comfort level I have with actors. Many a time, I've had to explain to them why they shouldn't do what they want to do. Sometimes, I tell them, "This is not what you need to do; there's something else we have to work on." There have also been cases where I have told actresses, "You don't need to do anything, your face is very beautiful." So, we just let them go.

Have there been times when you have catered to them because they were adamant?
Never. A lot of times, people ask me to do things that I believe will do no good to their face. According to me, I have a very good analytical eye and aesthetic sense. I know what will look good on whose face. Technically also, we have that kind of knowledge.
But yes, there have been rare cases of me reversing my decision. That's because after saying 'No', I rethink and realise my patients were right. Such cases are, however, very rare.
In cases where I know I am absolutely right, I never give in. I have had one instance with an actor who didn't get what I was telling him/her. So, this person went to other doctors and got the procedures done. Later, he/she came back to me and got it corrected all over again.
There are certain medications which could harm them, but we don't use any of that. 


Have there been cases where you have gone wrong?
Thankfully, it has never happened. One reason may be because I don't do volume practice; on my busiest day, I see 15 patients. If you talk to any other skincare doctor, he/she may say, 'I see at least 70 patients in a day'. I take my time and work in an easy, subtle way. And I'm more known for subtle changes rather than big changes on the face. I think a lot before I stick a needle into the patient's face. I am on a lot of forums, teaching all over the world and I am an editor of certain boards --- so, I get a lot of international exposure on what's the latest. So, whatever I bring on the table is the best that's there to offer.

Some stars like Shilpa Shetty have openly said that they have come to you. Can you name a few others?
In my book Age Erase, a few stars have said nice things about me. Next question, please (smiles).

Do they come for hair loss also?
Yes, big time. A lot of male actors, especially, come for hair treatment. I use a concoction that I make myself and also do PRP (a therapy used for hair restoration). We get amazing results. Even actresses get it done. During shoots, they pull your hair, blow dry it, iron it... even the wigs that they attach tug the hair. Above all, they are exposed to heat, light and dust all the while. So, the scalp is sweaty, a lot of chemicals are used on the hair, they don't eat on time. So, with all that combined, actors and actresses both suffer more hair loss than a person from any other fraternity.

We see so many actors in their 50s with a lot of hair...
Not all of them would be because of hair treatments. There are solutions like hair patches and I would give all the credit to hairdressers who do it beautifully. There is a hair-building drop called Topikk. All these factors combined give you a good effect. But if there is no hair on your head, you won't be able to do anything.

You adopt the injections route...
I go all guns blazing, but I never do anything which is harmful to my patients today or 10 years later.

What are the other hair treatments mainly sought by actresses?
Hair treatments are lesser among actresses, as Indian women are blessed with beautiful hair. Women have a problem of thin hair in the forehead area. They attach a wig somewhere behind the head so, there is a lack of volume near the forehead. There are quite a few actresses who have got treatment done just in that area, so that it looks good on camera. But mostly, women come for face treatments. We work a lot with the shape of their nose. We make it look nicer, sharper. If the tip of the nose is dipping, we can get that up. We can make the nostrils smaller. Lips can also be shaped beautifully.

Are actresses obsessed with pouting lips?
Yes, most of them want their lips to look more attractive.

Has any actor/actress come running back to you, saying they were cornered by the media after your work?
Thankfully, my girls have never been cornered because I work very subtly. But yes, they do come and say, "Some of our colleagues are being cornered, so we don't want anything like that to be done to us. We need to be very careful with what you do. All we need is a little change."
These days, the stars come with a good knowledge of what's happening and what they want. They are not gullible that you can do anything on their face and they'll take it.

Do they come to you to dissolve body fat?
Patches of it, not necessarily the entire body.

The stomach, the paunch...
Umm... sometimes, a little bit of the lower belly can be an issue, the sides of the thighs can be an issue, the area of excess fat on the back may be an issue... these can be corrected from time-to-time. If a little correction makes them look fantastic and boosts their confidence, why not?

Do you do figure enhancement?
What we do is sculpting, enhancing the shape. I don't help them reduce weight, that's not my forte. They go to dieticians and fitness experts for that. What we do is, for example, ensure that aesthetically, a particular midriff or an arm looks very good on screen. So, we end up doing little things like tightening the skin there, reducing the circumference of the arm, or reducing the cellulite. Sometimes, people come to me post-liposuction. After undergoing the fat-reduction procedure, they develop uneven skin in the affected area. So, we help them with even that.

Breast reduction/enhancement...
I don't do that.

But do they still enquire?
By now, they know what my forte is and they come to me for what I am good at. I have never advertised, I get clients only through word of mouth.

Do you do hip-shaping?
No, I don't do any surgical job.

But do they ask you to recommend a good doctor for hip-shaping and changes in breast size?
Yes. So, we tell them about doctors with whom we have seen good results in such aspects. 

Thumbnail Image Source: Manav Manglani & facebook/drrashmiraishetty