Dazzling Priyanka and her make-up man
IT’S not every day that Priyanka Chopra invites you back to her room, but that’s exactly what the Bollywood actress asked of Durban make-up artist Neil Ramautar, during her weekend visit to South Africa as ambassador of the UN Children’s Fund.
“She was very sweet and very easy to talk to,” said Ramautar, who was called by Unicef on behalf of Chopra to style her for the evening. “She asked me if I was there to do her make-up. I said yes, and she said she was very excited.”
Flying to Johannesburg, the star of the drama series, Quantico, was the guest of honour at a gala dinner held in Sandton on Sunday.
“I sponsored the gift bags for the event, so when they asked if I could come to Johannesburg to style her, I said yes, even though I had a tight schedule,” said Ramautar.
But Murphy’s Law almost derailed everything. He said everything that could go wrong went wrong – from delayed flights and lost luggage to unanswered calls.
“When I arrived, we only had 20 minutes. I asked her what she would like, and she loves things to be natural.
“She asked for individual lashes and a natural look. Apparently her last make-up artist burnt off her lashes!”
The initial make-up room was in a lounge, but Chopra called Ramautar to her room instead, where he gave advice on her jewellery, her choice of sari, shoes and even lipstick.
“I mentioned that I might stop doing make-up and she said no, that I am very talented and that I must keep doing what I do,” he said.
Ramautar said he had worked with many celebrities and while some of them were sweet, a lot of them were not.
“Priyanka was just sweet and lovely. She was kind and had no airs or graces about her. She made silly jokes and asked me if I’d like to take a picture and video so that other people will believe me when I tell them I did her make-up.”
Ramautar said he was unsure how to address her, so he kept calling her “maam”.
“Why are you calling me maam?” she asked me, and I said, I don’t know, what do I call you? And she smiled and said, call me Priyanka.”
After spending some time with the international model and film star, Ramautar said his goodbyes and left.
The next day, he said social media was buzzing with pictures of her make-up, and people complimenting his work.
“A representative from Unicef called me to say thanks and they told me that whenever she is in South Africa, I am her official make-up guy,” said Ramautar.
Check out a short video of Ramautar and Chopra on our Facebook page, POST Newspaper.