Ranjit Dahiya has found a way to pay a personal tribute to Indian cinema through the ‘Bollywood Art Project’
THE BOLLYWOOD CITY
Four Years ago, I was offered a job in Mumbai and moved to the city from Haryana. On reaching Mumbai, I went around the city searching for Bollywood visuals, because in my mind, Mumbai is the ‘Bollywood city’. But I was disappointed as I didn’t see any such visuals apart from film posters, which can be seen in any city. One day, while I was walking on Temple road, I and saw a group of people painting a wall. There I met Dhanaya Pilo, who I know from my college years at NID. She then informed me about the ‘Wall project’ that she was working on. I asked her if I could contribute to the ‘Wall project’ with my painting and she readily agreed. About three months later, she contacted me and enquired if I could paint around the subject of Bollywood. Since she wanted to see my work, I painted a poster of Amitabh Bachchan, live at Varoda Road. She liked my work and invited me to paint live at a show in Paris.
BOLLYWOOD AROUND THE WORD
In Paris, I painted a 32 ft x 12 ft poster of Sarkar Raj, which was then signed by Amitabh Bachchan and the poster was then auctioned for charity. During my stay there, I realised that there are Bollywood fans not only in India, but all over the world. A year later, I was invited to France one again, this time to paint a mural. Before I went there I asked the people who invited me to Paris to sponsor my exhibition there, which they agreed to do. I went there with 31 of hand painted posters which covered the history of Bollywood. My exhibition also coincided with a film festival which took place in the same city. Therefore, my exhibition highlighted the presence of Bollywood in world cinema. Later, I also went to South Africa, where my exhibition was displayed across 4 galleries.
THE BOLLWOOD ART PROJECT
After I returned to India, the thought that there was nothing to represent Bollywood in the city that gave birth to it pinched me. Since I was travelling around the world and spreading awareness about Bollywood, I thought why not start something in Mumbai as well? I wanted to pay tribute to all the stars and entertainers who made Bollywood what it is today. Today, people only remember the recent stars, no one knows Dadasaheb Phalke, Guru Dutt and other legends who shaped Bollywood. I decided to start the Bollywood Art Project to celebrate the magic of Bollywood. Though funding was a problem, I saved money from my freelance projects and invested the amount in this initiative. A fellow ‘Bollywood freak’, Tony Peter, initially helped me with the production aspect.
FROM ANARKALI TO MOGAMBO:
My first painting was that of Anarkali at Chapel Road. Even during my previous exhibitions, it was my dream to depict Anarkali in a painting. While I was painting Anarkali, a number of elderly people surrounded the area and exclaimed subhanAllah and mashaAllah in praise of the painting. After I earned some more money, I painted Amitabh Bachchan on Band stand, Bandra. A week later, we received the sad news of Rajesh Khanna’s death. I wanted to pay tribute to him as well, so I painted an image of him on the other side of the same building where Amitabh Bachchan was painted. While I was working on the Rajesh Khanna project, someone called me and saying he was a big fan of my work. He even met me with a bouquet of flowers;such incidents give me a lot of encouragement and confidence. My most recent work has been a painting of Mogambo in Khar. I have covered actors, but I did not want to miss out on villains as they are a big part of Bollywood as well. Also, Amrish Puri is one of the best remembered villains we have and is a personal favourite of mine.
THE FUTURE OF BOLLYWOOD ART PROJECT
I am occupied with other projects during the day and usually work on paintings for Bollywood Art Project at night. I barely sleep for a couple of hours since I need to focus on my work as well to fund this project. Unfortunately most sponsors who are interested in the Bollywood Art Project want their logo included in the painting, which is something I am not willing to do.
My strategy is to cover all the eras of India starting from the golden age, to the pop-masala films and then globalised cinema. I will paint recent stars as well, but not yet. Today’s generation cannot remember the early stars of Indian cinema such as Dadasaheb Phalke. I want to first given them something they can identify with, and then go to old cinema by painting still from movies like Raja Harishchandra , Alam Ara and Mother India. Eventually, also want to paint a 10 storey building full of Bollywood stars.
After Anarkali, my aim was to find paint an image of Helen. Unfortunately, I could not find the right wall that would do justice to her painting and am still looking for the ideal location. In the future I want to paint many more memorable stars such as Kishore Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Nargis, etc. My aim is to make Mumbai look like a Bollywood city. Not only Mumbai, I want to spread my passion for Bollywood to other cities as well. I have received an invitation from LA and the German Embassy, who are interested in my work. My dream is for Bollywood Art Project to reach wherever Bollywood lovers are. The only issue I am facing is accommodating work and Bollywood Art Project. If I get sufficient funding, I will be able to focus 100% on the Bollywood Art Project.
