XAVIER: MAKING IT UP!

By Shamaz

SOMEONE ONCE asked me “How do you tiatrists manage to look so beautiful on stage?” I turned around and said “That’s the magic of make-up”!

Yes, make-up can make even the ugliest of us look almost beautiful. But that’s not all there is to make-up. In the make believe world of theatre, films and television, make-up can change the very features of a person, the age of a person, the character of a person to suit the situations in the storyline. Make-up therefore contributes a lot to the success of a play or a film or a serial. And that’s where the professional make-up man comes in.

In the tiatr world too we have the make-up man. Earlier he used to be part of the regular cast but today the artists bring their own make-up kit. Still whenever special make-up is required to be done then the make-up man is brought in.

I was always fascinated with the art of make-up and curious to know how they could change the very appearance of a person and so I thought why not feature a make-up man this time. Sunday morning on the 1 st of August ’04, he came in with a cake in hand as I opened the door. Thinking it to be a ‘Friendship Day’ offer I teased him about it. ‘No ma’am,’ he corrected me, It’s my birthday today.”

That was Charles Xavier Mascarenhas fondly called X’Mas by close friends and relatives. I gathered my family around and we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him while I made him cut the same cake. Overcome with emotions he thanked us profusely and said “normally I don’t like to tell anyone about my birthday but I thought you will come to know about it anyway during the course of the interview. Might as well bring the cake.” Hmm, that was smart thinking!

Getting down to business I asked him how he came to choose the make up trade as a profession?

“My father, the late Valente Mascarenhas, was a make-up man cum actor of the Konkani stage. I used to watch him do the make-up of the tiatrists and I sort of learnt the art,” he smiled.

But before Xavier actually took up the ‘make up’ line, he started off as an actor in Tiatrs and even wrote his own tiatr titled “Mhoji Meunni” in 1979.

When did you switch over to doing make-up professionally? I ask him. “It was in Robin Vaz’s tiatr “Fatim Saibinn” and then I did Kamat de Assolna’s tiatr ( I cannot recollect the name) and soon I was in great demand as a make-up man for all the top directors especially because of my talent for the “special effect” make-up.”

What is this “special effect” make-up that you are talking about? “That is where I do bearded faces, bald faces, burnt faces etc.”, he answered.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I wanted to know how he did the ‘burnt face’ effect. He was more than happy to demonstrate and as he took out his stuff from his ‘magic bag’ ( as I call it), Xavier explained ‘I did this burnt face on actress Antonette Mendes in Anil Kumar’s Tiatr ‘ Bhirant’ which I feel was my best work to date. You see, I take this cotton, dip it in brown colour and allow it to dry. Then using spirit gum I paste it on the face of the artist and smear kajal and lipstick on it to make the scar look fresh. If the scar is to be shown dry then I use face peeler over the cotton,”

Awesome! It looks so real! Watching that reminded me of the scene in my tiatr “Puro Korat” where we show a spastic boy getting his back scraped against a stone wall and his skin peeling off. Xavier had done such a remarkable job of that scar that the audience was heard audibly gasping. How did you do that Xavier?

“Yes I used dried intestine of a goat for that wound effect. First I applied skin base from a tube, smeared lipstick and kaajal and applied ‘face masking’ over it. Then using spirit gum I pasted the goat skin around the wound to show the skin peeling effect.” Amazing!

Xavier takes great pride in mentioning that he has done special make-up like showing the eyeball hanging out on a person’s face after an accident or showing ghostly white eyes in a character playing a ghost and various other make-up tricks. Another special make-up job he is proud to mention is the character of “God the Father” which he did in Tomazinho Cardozo’s Tiatr “ORTH” for which he won the Best Make-Up award from Vandana Productions.

“Make-up is a creative job which demands a lot of planning,” he says “but the most challenging part is when it involves a quick change of make-up for the artist in a Tiatr. That is when your creativity is taxed to the limit.”

Did your make up trick ever fail?

“Not really but once an artist kept on complaining that the blood effect in a scene could not be seen properly by the audience. I tried everything from making the ‘blood’ thicker to increasing the quantity of ‘blood’ used and still he complained. Actually the fault lay with the lightman who kept using the red light instead of the yellow light. How can you notice ‘blood’ when light used is also red?” he questions logically.

Besides tiatrs, Xavier has done the make-up for films and Television. Is there any difference? I query.

“Yes, the make-up used for films and television is lighter giving it a more natural look whilst for tiatr you have to give a more gaudy look because of the distance factor,” he finished.

Presently he is doing a make-up job for Tony Dias’ tiatr “Kor Mhojem Kalliz Tujea Kallza Sarkhem” making children look like adults. One cannot help but admire him. He enjoys his work so much.

What about acting, have you given that up?

“No, I still play small roles whenever I get the opportunity along with my make-Up job,” he says.

Ever since I’ve known him, I found him to be easygoing and witty, always looking at the lighter side of life, ever willing to stand in and help out directors at short notice. He is good company too never a dull moment when Xavier is around. He loves to talk about his adventures on stage. Recalling a funny incident, he tells me. “You know Sharon, there was this tiatr of Remmie Colaco and we were performing in Mapusa. I had this grand entry in the 6 th scene so I had got a new pair of pants stitched in a hurry and so they were a little loose. The scene required that as I enter, Greg, who plays my father-in-law, lands at my feet, having been hit by someone but Greg instead of landing at my feet straight on, clutched at my pant pockets and slid down bringing down my pants as well. And there was me, with just my drawers on. Everyone was laughing the musicians, the actors on and off stage, the audience – for quite afew minutes. The curtain had to be brought down. I was so embarrassed and to add insult to injury the director kept wailing “Mr. Xavier what have you done? As if I was to be blamed!”

By now I was laughing too. ‘Why did you not pull your pants up?”

I asked giggling helplessly.

‘How could I? Greg was holding on to them and laughing uncontrollably. Picturing the whole scene in my mind, I totally freaked out. My family members came out of their rooms wondering why I was having a laughing fit. Xavier ofcourse repeated the incident to them with relish. Needless to say he had my family in splits too! That is X’Mas for you, laughing at himself and making others laugh!  (Goan Observer)