Why Rasika Dugal stayed away from make-up for Manto

Rasika Dugal, who plays Saadat Hasan Manto’s wife Safia in the biopic Manto, had to do a lot of groundwork in preparation for the role. However, she did not use any prosthetics or make-up to look like Safia. It was left to the stylists to get the clothes and hair-dos from that era to have a authentic replication of the real life person. Rasika says, “The make-up guy Srikant and his team did a fabulous job of designing the look of the characters. I shot the entire film with no make-up. The team just found ways to tweak small things to show a change in the look over the years since the film is spread over six years, and Manto and Safia go through a lot in that period. They are the tiniest of changes but, in my opinion make a strong impact and affect the look of the character. And also helped to enhance the performance.”