Rubama and her world of prosthetics
The makeup of the Nuhash Humayun directorial horror web series "Pett Kata Shaw" was widely appreciated, especially for its unique approach and smooth finishing. The 'petni' look of actress Shirin Akter Shela from the series caught the attention of the audience at that time.
The magician behind the prosthetic makeup of this series was Rubama Fairuzz. She also did the makeup for some of the well-known series like "Refugee" and "Punormojonmo."
"Growing up, I always liked to put on makeup on my face. When I passed college, I suddenly started to notice that I am pretty good at makeup, and my friends come to me to get their makeup done for any event. So, I thought, why not learn makeup professionally so that I could do it better?" shared Rubama about her journey of choosing this profession.
She looked for international online courses to learn to do makeup professionally. At that time, she found an institute in Sweden, where she took 6 months course on prosthetic makeup.
"There were many arenas in that makeup department, like theater makeup, film makeup, etc. I took the prosthetic makeup course because I thought that would be really different from the other arenas," said the makeup artist.
When she completed the course, she used to post her prosthetic makeup pictures on social media. Eventually, that helped to get her first gig in the media.
"My first work was in the series 'Pankha,' directed by Rahat Rahman, which was released on the OTT platform Iflix in 2017. Then I took a break because I didn't know the ins and outs of the media industry. I wanted to work safely."
Then, after two years, when the OTT platforms in our country started to flourish, she started getting offers from directors and producers. However, Rubama thinks "Pet Kata Shaw" was a break for her in the industry.
"'Pett Kata Shaw' was a turning point in my career. That's when people started to recognize me as an artist, who does prosthetic makeup. Before that, I was just a makeup artist whom you can randomly find on the internet," said Rubama.
When asked what challenges she faced in the industry, she replied, "As I am the pioneer of prosthetic makeup in Bangladesh, this is the most challenging thing for me. Not having competition is actually a negative thing because then you don't know whether you are doing well or not. There's no one in your sector, you are doing just as you like. So, at the end of the day, I don't know if I am improving or not."
So, what's the future of prosthetic makeup in our industry?
"Before talking about the future, but we have to iron out a few kinks," said Rubama. "The remuneration is very low compared to other countries, because it's still a new concept in our industry. So, the producers don't want to spend money on prosthetics, whereas I need to spend at least 15 thousand takas to create just one prosthetic leg. I have to convince them to give me that money every time, because I can't deliver good work with that small amount," said the talented makeup artist.
"To create a look, I import every material, such as latex (which is used to create a prosthetic mask), and gimmicked blood, from abroad. It takes me a lot of time and money to create just one look," she added.
Rubama is currently working as a regular makeup artist and production designer. She dreams of directing a film someday.
"I just want to explore all the other sectors of production so that when I direct a film, I know the ins and outs of everything related to a film production," said Rubama.
Not only in Bangladesh, but Rubama also worked in Kolkata on their drama serials as a makeup artist. She is in talks with other international projects too.
When asked if she wanted to make her career abroad, she said, "I have no plans to take my career abroad, although I know I have better opportunities there. As an artist that does prosthetic makeup in our country, I have a certain freedom and voice in my country that I enjoy. We have seen how our films and series are making waves abroad. So, it's important to enter their industry with our own name tag."