Today is the fifth death anniversary of the first female superstar Sridevi. Rajesh Patil has been Sridevi's, make-up man. He has been with Sridevi for more than a decade. Rajesh's struggle has its own story, but the most emotional or most difficult moment of his life was when he did Sridevi's last make-up before her funeral after her death.
According to Rajesh - It was not felt that Sridevi was no more. I was doing her make-up while crying and it seemed that she would now say that Rajesh should not do this. She used to be very alert about her makeup. He knew very well what would look good on his face.
Rajesh is from Jalgaon, Maharashtra. Farmers are from the family and the condition of the house was also not good in childhood. Barely could read till class 10th. When he was young, he used to earn some money for the house by selling bread. Mama used to look after the costume work in the film industry. He called Mumbai. Learned makeup. Then started working for 30 rupees a day.
Rajesh, who has done make-up for many celebs from Tabu, Shahrukh Khan, and Rani Mukherjee to Priyanka Chopra, now charges 30 to 40 thousand for one-time make-up. He has had a lot of association with Sridevi.
Story of the first meeting with Sridevi
When I came to Mumbai, my maternal uncle was working on the sets of the film Nagina. It was during that time that I saw Sridevi for the first time. Pankaj Kharbanda was the manager of both Sridevi and Tabu. Once Sridevi asked him if he knew any good make-up artists, then he gave my reference because he had seen my work with Tabu. Then Sridevi said - Okay, call him.
After that, I met him and he liked my work. When I was doing her makeup for the first time, I was very scared that she is such a senior actress, lest something go wrong. After that, I was in regular touch with him. Apart from films, when she had to go out somewhere or to some reality show, then I used to accompany her to do makeup. Because of this, I developed a very good relationship with him.
It was a joke when I got an offer to do Sridevi's make-up after her death.
On 24 February 2018, the news of Sridevi's death came. This was a big shocker for me. I could not believe that she is no more in this world. He passed away in Dubai and then I could not go with him because I had some other work.
When the same news came for two-three consecutive days, then it was believed that he is no more. Before Sridevi's body arrived, I was in the same area where she lived. It was on 26 February when suddenly I got a call from an unknown number. He asked- Rajesh ji, are you free tomorrow. I said yes tomorrow I am free.
Then he said- Tomorrow you have to come and do Sridevi's make-up. I got angry about this thing of his. I thought it was a joke, but he explained that it was true. Designer Manish Malhotra and his family members suggest that he will be cremated only after being decorated like a bride.
Couldn't sleep all night talking about makeup
I told him that I will confirm by night. This thing bothered me all the way. When I reached home, I told all these things to my wife. He said that maybe someone is joking. Again the call came in the night and the next morning I was asked to come to Sridevi ji's house.
I reached there the next day (February 27) with my makeup kit, but Sridevi's body came at 11 pm, after which I was told to come tomorrow morning. Then I came back home, but could not sleep the whole night. The next day at 7 in the morning I reached his house.
When I went inside, many people including Anil Kapoor's wife Sunita, and Rani Mukherjee were present near Sridevi's body. I opened my makeup kit and started applying makeup.
When I was doing her make-up, it seemed that she would just wake up and say – Rajesh, this is wrong, fix it. Earlier also when I used to do her make-up, she would not remain calm. She knew what would look good on her face, she used to tell all those things.
Crying Sridevi's last makeup done
She used to do everything with perfection, so I went with the bindi of her choice. When I was doing that last make-up on her, tears were continuously flowing from my eyes. I could hardly contain myself. It was an emotional moment in my life that I will remember forever.
This was the most emotional episode of Rajesh Patil's life. Now we read the story from his childhood to becoming a celebrity makeup artist-
Born in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, and brought up by my mother
I was born on 12 February 1971 in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. We are two sisters and two brothers, of whom I am the youngest. I had a joint family, but there was no major source of income. My father used to work in agriculture. Although father did not have any special meaning to us.
He had a different world and he used to get lost in it. Mother nurtured us and raised us. The condition of the house was very bad. Sometimes maternal uncle used to money-order some money. But what we are eating, how we are living, father did not pay any attention to it.
When there was a problem, he lived by selling pav.
Childhood is spent in poverty. That's why I started working at the age of 12. I used to buy 100 pavs from a little distance away from the village for six and a quarter rupees and sell them from door to door. In return, I used to get ten paise for a pav. In this way, I used to get 10 rupees from 100 pav. At that time Rs 10 was very important. From the earnings, I used to withdraw the fare for commuting and used to save some. I did this work for about 1 year. My sister did not have clothes, so I bought clothes for her with the money I saved.
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