(This story originally appeared in 
on Apr 21, 2015)
NEW DELHI: Charu Khurana, who worked her magic on the faces of top film stars and politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, finally broke into Bollywood's exclusive male club of make-up artists, emerging as the first woman to be registered by the Cine Costume Make-Up Artist & Hair Dressers' Association (CCMAA) after a long legal battle. on Apr 21, 2015)The 6-year-long legal battle for demolishing the gender barrier came to an end with CCMAA on Monday telling a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant that it had registered Khurana to pursue her profession in Bollywood.
The association was forced to pave the way for female make-up artists after the Supreme Court had in November last year put an end to a 59-year old practice in Bollywood that barred women.
Advocate Jyotika Kalra, appearing for Khurana, told the bench that the Association had even barred her for three years from taking personal assignment, hampering her work as she was being hired by many people and organizations.
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Kalra said Khurana was hired by CNN channel to do make-up on Obama before an interview when the President was in India in January. She also placed the photograph of Khurana with Obama to substantiate her claim.
She said the bar on taking personal assignment be done away with as she had been fighting the case for the last six years and should have enrolled herself in 2009 if female artists were allowed.
The bench, after hearing her arguments, said it would deal with the issue and asked her to file a separate application on it.
Holding that harassment of women in the 21st century is "inconceivable and impermissible", the apex court last year struck down the provision restricting entry of women make-up artists and hair dressers into the film industry. It asked the film industry across the country including regional cinema hubs in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to ensure equal opportunity for women.
Even after SC's verdict, the association had expressed reluctance to register Khurana as make-up artists on one ground or the other. But it had to act after the court threatened to initiate contempt proceedings against its office bearers.
The court had slammed CCMAA for behaving like an emperor and granted a last opportunity on April 13 to enroll her in the association within a week.
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