Ambika Pillai

Ambika Pillai Biography

Ambika Pillai is a prominent Hairstylist and make-up artist in the Indian fashion industry and now ‘Ambika’ is a leading fashion brand of beauty products in India. She is one of the most sought hairstylist and make-up artist and mostly associated with high profile people, Bollywood stars etc and her skills are regularly featured in advertising campaigns, catwalk shows, fashion films, and editorials. She originally belongs to Kerala, now settled in Mumbai. At present Ambika Pillai is a brand by itself.

She was born in Kollam, Kerala as the daughter of a cashew exporter Gopinath Pillai and Santha. Born in a rich family of Kollam, she had a luxurious childhood and she studied at Ooty. She was married to Surenda Nath on 1980 at the age of 17 and moved to Kolkata. But later she had to lead a miserable life in a congested one bed room apartment. Her married life was also not happy and they spitted. Her daughter Kavitha was born in this wedlock. In 1993, she married Rakesh. Again things didn’t move smooth and she left him as he was addicted to gambling and drinking.

She started her career as a hair stylist and moved on to Make-up. She also trained her three sisters, Gopika, Renuka and Devika and they have become a part of her business world. Her first salon was called Visions by Ambika, which later became a brand name. Now her saloon branches all over India from North to South and models, actresses or socialites are her regular customers. She also had a brief stint in Bollywood where she worked as the makeup artist for Aishwarya Rai for 1999 movie – Taal.

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Updated: February 12, 2014