Delhi cinema, Mumbai style

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 9: Suraiya peeps out from behind Amitabh Bachchan's shoulder, even as the Big B broods in the distance. A little farthe...

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 9: Suraiya peeps out from behind Amitabh Bachchan’s shoulder, even as the Big B broods in the distance. A little farther away, Salma Agha coyly watches Raj Kapoor play with the Joker. Not real life, not even reel life, that’s for sure. But these Hindi film stars (mostly from the past and some not so bright) are slowly being oil-painted into existence, next to each other, on a 44-by-17-ft canvas, in the foyer of Siri Fort Auditorium I, which is getting dressed for the 31st International Film Festival of India that opens on Monday.

“Since it is the first film festival of the new millennium, they (the Directorate of Film Festivals, DFF) wanted to make a deal out of it,” explains Sumant Jayakrishnan, a 30-year-old artist and set designer who has been commissioned to do the foyer up. `Doing it up’ includes the canvas, based on a collage created by Jayakrishnan, an installation comprising blow-ups of 75 film posters which will line the foyer, and three screens to project moving images.

Thetheme, `Magic of Cinema’, says Malti Sahai, director, DFF, “looks at the myths and realities of Indian cinema, and its interaction with audiences.” In fact, actor Rajit Kapur has directed an eight-minute film of the same name, as a tribute to Indian cinema, which will also be screened at the IFFI 2000 inauguration.

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“I spent days in the Pune film archives sourcing and sifting through material, before selecting what should be used,” says Jayakrishan, who was roped in two months ago by Vijaya Mehta, Director, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), and chairperson of the DFF’s Functions Committee.

Chandrashekhar Upadhyay and Sanjeev Kumar, who call themselves “cinema artists” they paint hoardings for cinema halls around the city, which explains the calendar-art style have been working on the canvas for nearly three days, under Jayakrishan’s supervision. “We narrowed the focus down to faces from Indian cinema, since I’m more familiar with it,” says the National Institute of Design (NID)graduate, who’s also designed some of the sets for Govind Nihalani’s recent commercial venture, Thakshak.

It’s hard to imagine the transformation that will happen to the mess of ladders, cables and people that makes up the Siri Fort foyer at present, but Jayakrishan, helped by theatre director Zuleikha Allana, who’s doing the lighting for the installation, is working on a deadline: “Monday morning.” And cinephiles who miss the real thing can always catch the inauguration’s live telecast on old faithful, Doordarshan.