What do you get when you depict Bollywood beauties on a canvas with lovely strokes of brushes and colourful paints? The result is The Bollywood Divas Art Exhibition, which is on at Phoenix Marketcity, Whitefield.
The show features some of the most sought-after actors and captures the moods of Bollywood beauties from different eras. Curated by art collector and enthusiast, Sachin Kaluskar, it displays portraits of five popular film actors from each era-- 1940-1960, 1961-1980, 1981-2000, and 2001-2015.
Four artists from Gujarat were assigned with the task of coming up with the paintings and each one was given a particular era to work on.
Focusing on women of substance, the art show is a tribute to these stars, who tried to break off from the conventional run-of-the mill kind of roles and depicted strong women in some of their films. “With the ongoing issues regarding women empowerment, I felt a concept involving women achievers was relevant,” says Sachin, the man behind the show. Considering the instant connection people feel with Bollywood, he chose to portray some of the most loved and famous actresses from the Hindi film industry. It also focuses on the strength of womanhood and not on woman merely as an object of beauty.
tThe images depicting actors between 1940 and 1960on canvas by Sukhdev Rathod from Baroda, are in black and white, while the 1961-80 era by Sanjay Rajwar (also from Baroda) has bright colours and is an interesting portrayal of newspaper cuttings to emphasise the role played by media in the success of the actresses. There is also a 3-D element, illustrated by Saumya Pandya Thakkar (from Ahmedabad) in the 1981-2000 era, which shows the technological advances that happened during this period. For the modern epoch, Jaldip Chauhan from Baroda has focused on portraying actresses in the best of their roles, immortalising some of the most powerful and memorable characters played by them in recent times. “I’ve used cubes, balls and other geometrical shapes to bring about a 3D element in my paintings. The colours have been chosen to give a light-and-shadow effect,” explains Saumya.
Bollywood, which has changed itself according to the times, still appeals to today’s youth. And there were many students at the show. The Bollywood Divas Art Exhibition will be on till July 12.
