Daku dubbed Banksy of India by many, is becoming quite a hit with Bollywood stars. Architect Ashiesh Shah first chose him for the plush Bandra apartment of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.
For his next assignment which was Hrithik Roshan’s bachelor’ pad in Juhu, the architect has taken the Delhi-based street artist on board again. The artist has rendered a life-size graffiti on a whitewashed brick wall. It depicts the back side of a kid who has scribbled ‘should, would, and could’. The three are struck off in red and followed by ‘did’. Besides this main piece, Daku tells us, there are other works too in the house.
“There are hidden messages on the floor, ceilings and other places,” says Daku, who met Hrithik three-four times to discuss work. And every time, he went to the house, the house looked different. “I realised, he is very particular about things. For the main piece, the inspiration was his own sons that they shouldn’t hold back and follow their heart,” says the well-known graffiti artist who tags his name in Devanagri script on walls in Mumbai and Delhi.
In Ranbir Kapoor’s house, Daku had done a Charlie Chaplin waiting for a BEST bus at a bus stand. “Like his grandfather, Ranbir too is very fond of Charlie Chaplin.” The artist feels that the homes of Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan draw inspiration from New York loft design.
Although public spots qualify as appropriate spaces for graffiti but there’s no harm in taking this form of street art inside the four walls, especially when the houses happen to be of well-heeled Bollywood stars.
“The art needs to reach different levels of the society. When you put it there, you see it differently and you approach it differently.” In the sea-facing apartment of the actor, Daku rubs his shoulders with the likes of S.H. Raza. There is a piece by Desmond Lazaro as well.
