DUBAI: Veteran Pakistani stylist and image consultant Nabila Maqsood and her team are getting ready for their first major Bollywood break. Her brands Zero Makeup, N-Gents and Nabila are now the official makeup and hairstylists in the prestigious International Indian Film Academy [IIFA] awards 2018.
The biggest celebration of Indian cinema is heading to Bangkok, Thailand, on June 22-24.
Nabila has replaced MAC Cosmetics, which was the IIFA official makeup and stylist partner for more than 16 years.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News, Nabila said the selection was unexpected but she and her team are very excited. “I am overwhelmed. It is a very big honor that for the first time a Pakistani hair stylist and makeup artist will be doing this world-class event. It is a complement that such a grand event, which Mac was doing successfully for 16 years, will now be managed by us. It is very exciting.”
Bollywood stars such as Karan Johar, Shahid Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Radhika Apte, Huma Qureshi, Dia Mirza, Ayushmann Khurana, Ritesh Deshmukh, Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Kriti Sanon will be participating and performing during the awards ceremony.
“The project is huge. It will involve fashion shows, an awards ceremony, dance performances and lots of other activities where loads of celebrities of MIP [most important people], VVIP [very, very important people] and VIP [very important people] level are participating and we will be doing makeup and styling for all them. It is a huge task,” she said.
Although this is Nabila and her team’s first gig in Bollywood, she is confident that her team is trained enough to manage the pressure. “We have been doing all the awards shows and fashion weeks [in Pakistan] for over 16 years now. My team can handle the entire celebrities and dance performances and other event.
“I know India has much bigger canvas and they have more superstars. But we are focused on our work. We are confident that we will do it well. My team is trained and professional enough to deal with all kinds of pressure. Moreover, we invest in our products and hence we are equipped enough to deal with such huge projects [as IIFA].”
She said her team had worked with Indian stars who had visited Pakistan over the past decade or so. However, this will be the first time that they have dealt with the entire Bollywood under one roof.
Nabila finds that Indian aesthetics, especially those with Bollywood, are larger than life. “The Indian aesthetics, especially dances, are slightly larger than life. So everything has to look very glamorous and sexy, which is very beautiful.”
Nabila’s personal favorite Bollywood hero is Shahid Kapoor. “I like Shahid Kapoor’s style only because he keeps reinventing himself and keeps on changing his looks. For men, hair and beards make all the difference. At N-Gents, I am really looking forward to set up the barbering section which hasn’t been done before.”
Having said that, Karan Johar is the Bollywood personality that Nabila is really eager to meet and work with. “Though there is a fantastic lineup of top movie stars, I am really looking forward to working with Karan Johar. I know we will become very good friends.”