Rasika Dugal goes sans make-up for 'Manto'

Mumbai: Actress Rasika Dugal, who essays Safia Manto in Nandita Das' directorial "Manto", needed no make-up or prosthetics for her portrayal. "Manto" is based on the life of late writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Safia was his wife.

"Srikant and his team did a fabulous job of designing the look of the characters. On most days I shot 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 story of the film is over six years and Manto and Safia go through a lot in those years," Rasika said in a statement.

"They are the tiniest of changes, but in my opinion, make a strong impact and affect the look of the character. And also really helped enhance the performance. We really didn't use any make-up or prosthetics. But the smallest of details were looked into by Nandita," she added. 

"Manto" features Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title role. It also features Rajshri Deshpande as celebrated author, Ismat Chughtai and has guest appearance from several actors including Shabana Azmi, Purab Kohli and Chandan Roy Sanyal.

The movie had a world premiere at the 71st Cannes Film Festival this month, earning positive reviews.