Maqbool Fida Hussain
MF Husain is arguably India's greatest living artist! From painting cinema hoardings of Dilip Kumar Nargis starrers in the backlanes of Lamington Road earning five rupees a day in the 1940's to a 91 year old painter awarded the padmabhushan and currently proposed for bestowal of India's highest honour Bharat Ratna by people like Shshi Thaaroor, Shyam Benegal and Anjali Ela Menon, what a journey for Hussain whose paintings fetch ten crores in Sotheby's auctions, who had a 100 crore contracat with an Indian industrialist. He is forced to live in Dubai as he would be arrested if he returns to India, with 129 cases pending against hm in courts for offending religious sentiments.
What a controversial person. From painting film hoardings, to painting murals for the United Nations buildings at Geneva, for which Kofi Annan met him recently. As Sulman Rushdie was in the world of literature, so is Hussain in the world of visual arts. BOth faced fatwas from different diametrically opposed fanatic fundamentalist groups, present day Philistines.
Like most geniuses, Hussain is a maverick. At 91 he is as peppy as a teenager. Loves the good things of life, but walks barefoot, may be from empathy for the millions in this country who have no money to buy footware, and may be in deference to his humble origins in the small town Pandharpur where he was born to poor parents. With his filmy background, he is an ardent fan of family movies and chooses his muses from the reigning actresses of the day. He has sunk his money in producing and directing films featuring madhuri dixit and tabu and maybe he is going to produce one starring amrita rao as well But these are the idiosyncrasies of geniuses. Their hallmark!
The controversial "Bharatmata" depicting a nude female form against the backdrop of an outline of India, was not named by him as such. It was the auctioneer who put the name tag on it . But see where it has landed him.
I wonder whether Michelangelo was similarly targeted for his paintings on the cistine chapel, Quite a few paintings were reported to have been subsequently modified by covering the "offending" parts with maple leaves or whatever.
One can only hope that as per the orders of the supreme court all these cases against Hussain will be transferred to Delhi and the law will give its impartial verdict. May this great aratist get the Bharat Ratna in the twilight of his life at least. He deserves it.
Tailpiece: How do u make out a genuine Husain painting from a fake? Simple. If u look at the horses carefully, the ones with unshod feet are genuine.
What a controversial person. From painting film hoardings, to painting murals for the United Nations buildings at Geneva, for which Kofi Annan met him recently. As Sulman Rushdie was in the world of literature, so is Hussain in the world of visual arts. BOth faced fatwas from different diametrically opposed fanatic fundamentalist groups, present day Philistines.
Like most geniuses, Hussain is a maverick. At 91 he is as peppy as a teenager. Loves the good things of life, but walks barefoot, may be from empathy for the millions in this country who have no money to buy footware, and may be in deference to his humble origins in the small town Pandharpur where he was born to poor parents. With his filmy background, he is an ardent fan of family movies and chooses his muses from the reigning actresses of the day. He has sunk his money in producing and directing films featuring madhuri dixit and tabu and maybe he is going to produce one starring amrita rao as well But these are the idiosyncrasies of geniuses. Their hallmark!
The controversial "Bharatmata" depicting a nude female form against the backdrop of an outline of India, was not named by him as such. It was the auctioneer who put the name tag on it . But see where it has landed him.
I wonder whether Michelangelo was similarly targeted for his paintings on the cistine chapel, Quite a few paintings were reported to have been subsequently modified by covering the "offending" parts with maple leaves or whatever.
One can only hope that as per the orders of the supreme court all these cases against Hussain will be transferred to Delhi and the law will give its impartial verdict. May this great aratist get the Bharat Ratna in the twilight of his life at least. He deserves it.
Tailpiece: How do u make out a genuine Husain painting from a fake? Simple. If u look at the horses carefully, the ones with unshod feet are genuine.
posted by vichchoobhai at 10:27 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Jules,
I must admit I am absolutely floored with the way you write. And it's surely my honor to have you critiquing my work every time.
Are you really a 24 yr old? You sound and write like a guy who's seen so much of the world. I am going to add you in my yahoo list.
torusdirect@yahoo.com rt?
I can see the patriot in you speak from the recent blogs .....Sania, M F Hussain and Santhi. Coming to this article, it was truly educative for me. :). And that is one of the main reasons, I liked this post in particular apart from the passion with which you wrote about Maqbool Fida Hussain. You've capsulated the essence of his greatness very beautifully in a nutshell.
Post this blog, I stand enlightened about MF Hussain and the true living legend that he is.
Thanks for that truly informative post.
Yours Truly
Tina
Hi Tina,
I must thank u for your flaattering comment. I like your blogs much more. U write with such facile style and words come naturally to u. I have to contrive.
Well, I may appear to be more experienced than my age indicates, but i take lots of interest in politics, current affairs, literatuare etc. and i have travelled a bit. ( see my comments on your travael wish list)
I shall be honoured to be included in your yahoo friends list. ya the id is torusdirect@yahoo.com. My privilege.
Post a Comment
<< Home