Soori spent years as one of Tamil cinema's best-loved comedians before Viduthalai and Garudan turned him into a leading man. When Provoke Lifestyle put him on its June 2024 cover, Anu did the makeup.
The Brief
Provoke Lifestyle planned its cover story — 'The Rise of Garudan: Soori!' — around the actor's arrival as a lead: a Madurai comedian who had just carried Garudan as the hero Sokkan, with Viduthalai already behind him. The shoot was built around a car at night, hard key lights against dark metal, and Anu was brought in to handle the grooming. The brief was a leading man's polish that still looked like Soori — nothing that softened the face audiences have trusted for fifteen years.
The Look
Skin-finishing natural makeup, the same discipline behind Anu's groom service: warm, matte skin that holds against a direct key light, the beard line cleaned and defined rather than reshaped, and a hair set built to survive a night of leaning in and out of car windows. On a men's editorial, the work succeeds only when it is invisible in print.
Behind the Scenes
The setups moved fast — inside the cabin, the window lean that became the cover frame, night exteriors between takes — and every change of light meant a thirty-second check and correction. The frame Provoke chose for the cover is the one where the makeup is doing the most work and showing the least.
In His Own Words
After the shoot wrapped, Soori said it to the camera himself — her makeup is great.
“Her makeup is great.”
— Actor Soori, on camera after the shoot
