Cate Blanchett hails Indian make-up artist Charu Khurana

Charu Khurana fought a legal battle for six years against gender discrimination in the film industry.

Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett is all impressed by Indian make-up artist Charu Khurana, who fought a legal battle for six years against gender discrimination in the film industry. Blanchett, 46, met Charu backstage during her visit to be a part of ‘Women in the World’ summit.

(L-to-R) Rooney Mara, Todd Haynes, Cate Blanchett and US screenwriter Phyllis Nagy leave the Festival palace after the screening of the film Carol Cate is seen in a Giles Deacon dress. (AFP)

“Charu, an extraordinary make-up artist, while she was applying lipstick to me, told me how she challenged the... (ongoing practice) in Supreme Court that women cannot be make-up artists in Bollywood.”

“She won the right to be a make-up artist and already, 400 women have become make-up artists in her way,” the actor said. The Supreme Court in November last year ordered Mumbai’s Cine Costume Make-up Artists and Hair Dressers Association(CCMAA) to drop its “obstinacy” and allow women to register.

Prior to the judgment, only men were allowed to become make-up artists in the film industry while women were classified as hairdressers.