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Thilagavathi Palani
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\u201cOur makeup has to be loud, bright, dramatic and exaggerated as it is performed in open grounds during temple festivals, usually past midnight. Every rasa <\/i>(emotion) has a colour, for example, aggression, anger and courage is signified by red; for female [characters] we use pink or yellow, and for heroic characters such as Krishna or Arjuna it is dark green or blue; and for neutral emotions, it is a combination of orange and yellow,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For the first layer, they mix coconut oil and muthuvella<\/i> (a pearl white colour powder) and once it is evenly applied, they draw lines to accentuate the features and expressions using a thennang kuchi<\/i> (broomstick). For heroic characters, a moustache is drawn in black but for villains it is attached using a rope. Once the lines are drawn, they begin to mix dominant colours in oil and rub it gently covering all areas. Once the makeup is applied, it is topped with talcum powder. After this, they wear the costume and finally the headgear.<\/p>\n

Thilagavathi says, \u201cEach troupe will have just one makeup kit. Pink, orange, yellow, red, black and white are the basic colours, with pink being a recent addition. We mix two colours to indicate certain characters.<\/p>\n

@Alliance Francaise of Madras, Nungambakkam. On till April 13, 10am to 7pm. Presented by Goethe-Institut in association with the SNS Arts Development Consultancy, the Kala Collective and in collaboration with Alliance Fran\u00e7aise.<\/i><\/p>\n

Get your professional portraits clicked with the most inspiring woman of your life free of cost, April 12, 4pm to 7pm. Make a piece of jewellery from a one-to-five inch image of your favourite female artiste on April 12, 4pm to 6pm. <\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n