Bachchan's was the 'paa' of all makeovers in 2009

Talk of Bollywood makeovers in the year gone by and Amitabh Bachchan's Paa look beat everyone hands down.

Though Bachchan had little competition from 'sardars' Saif Ali Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, the Big B's act was appreciated by one and almost all.

Bachchan plays Auro, an intelligent, 13-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect, Progeria, that causes accelerated ageing and thus physically, he looks five times older.

Christien Tinsley of Hollywood films like Nutty Professor-II and Memoirs Of A Geisha fame was roped in to make to create the Auro looks which required hours of makeup.

Progeria patients have no hair, and so the veins are prominent on their heads. The head grows much bigger than the torso and they have no eyebrows or eye lashes.

According to Bachchan, eight specially-designed clay prosthetics were stuck on his face. He could eat, drink and talk only when the pieces were displaced.

"Five hours to put it all on, two hours to take it off and six hours to work – at times more if we are behind schedule. Tough! But then whoever said film making was a luxury. Then for a sunrise shot you start getting ready from the previous night at about 11pm, sit through the entire night to be ready by 4-5am and then go on to work," the 67-year-old Big B wrote on his blog.

Bachchan also played a genie's role in Eros International's Aladdin, also starring Riteish Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Fernandes.

The year also saw Saif and Ranbir don the sardar look.

Saif's maiden production Love Aaj Kal opposite Deepika Padukone, however, ran into rough weather initially, the 'chhote nawab' apologised to Sikhs for a few sequences in the film that the community objected to. Ranbir also wears a turban in Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year.

Bollywood beauties too had their share of makeovers, with Rani Mukherjee taking the lead as the 'sardar' in Dil Bole Haddipa. The actress disguised herself as a Sikh boy to play the role of a cricket enthusiast opposite Shahid Kapoor, but the film failed to impress the audience.

Brazilian model Giselli Monteiro surprised with her convincing turn as a traditional Punjabi girl in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal.

Actress Priyanka Chopra took the challenge of playing 12 characters corresponding to each zodiac sign in Ashutosh Gowarikar's What's Your Rashee?. Katrina Kaif too chucked her cute-girl image to play a 'rock-chick' role in multi-starrer Blue.

Earlier, Chandni Chowk to China, a mega-budget film produced by Warner Brothers and Rohan Sippy, saw Deepika with raised eyebrows and poker-straight fringed hair.

According to stylist Mallika Bhat, special effort was needed to give Deepika the Chinese look as she had a dusky complexion and big eyes.