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Journalism of Courage
The man with no landline, a studio in his car and no fixed residence turns 88 next month, September 17 and he8217;s showing no sign of slowing.
His travelling show of 88 paintings is currently making a splash in Kolkata, and his second film Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities is nearly ready for screening. But Husain has already moved on. The next Bollywood venture will be with Urmila Matondkar. 8216;8216;I wanted to do a comedy with Madhuri, but she8217;s busy with her family. Things are still in the formative stage, but Urmila has agreed,8217;8217; he reveals.
According to rumours, he stopped talking to his muse after a misunderstanding last year. Husain says nothing could be further from the truth. 8220;I just spoke to Madhuri last night and gave her the gossip about my upcoming show,8221; he smiles, adding that the media would love to create a rift where none exists. He8217;s even planning a trip to visit her in Denver, Colorado and see her newborn son Arim soon.
HUSAIN returns to Pundole Art Gallery to have a cup of tea with owner Dadiba Pundole, leaving a bunch of men peering through the glass doors of the gallery. Crowds don8217;t deter
Husain. In fact he8217;s used to painting in front of audiences. The most recent 8216;performance8217; was a dramatic work he made for Kaifi Azmi8217;s first death anniversary in May, watched by Mumbai8217;s literati. 8216;8216;Painting is a kind of yoga, it8217;s one of the only exercises I indulge in, besides walking. When I paint, nothing else matters,8217;8217; says the octogenarian whose gesticulating hands and restless movements give him the air of a man in cnstant motion.
Faithful driver Aqueel takes care of his car, a black Mercedes, that often doubles as Husain8217;s studio. 8216;8216;I have my colours, papers and brushes in my car. I even carry a change of clothes. For the night I can choose from many homes to sleep in as my sons and daughters have houses all over Mumbai four of Husain8217;s seven children live in the city. I have no need for a 8216;home8217; since my wife Fazilabibi died 10 years ago,8217;8217; says Husain. He has just closed the deal on a Hafeez Contractor-designed Konark flat in Worli for his daughter Ahila, back from Saudi Arabia. The brokers are happy to be paid off in kind8212;after all a
Husain painting is worth lakhs the last work Sitar Player went for Rs 17 lakh at the recent Christie8217;s auction in Hong Kong.
One could say, Husain is India8217;s only 8216;celebrity artist8217;. Something he isn8217;t coy about. 8216;8216;I was a bestseller since my first show,8217;8217; writes Husain in his autobiography, MF Husain Where Art Thou, transliterated by journalist Khalid Mohamed.
THE artist may come across as obnoxious, even rude, to those who don8217;t approach him with an informed opinion he certainly doesn8217;t think twice before turning away a scribe who hasn8217;t done his homework. But if you8217;re lucky, he8217;ll draw up a chair and speak in his soft, deep voice allowing the vulnerable painter to emerge.
8216;8216;I don8217;t believe that a painter is special or gifted. The only gift a human being has is his passion. Without fire he8217;s just 8230; normal! Mind you, there8217;s nothing wrong with being 8216;normal8217;. Just as long as you8217;re a good human being,8217;8217; he says, underlining his intention to demystify the unapproachable aura that often surrounds art.
BORN in Pandharpur, a small village close to the province of Solapur in Maharashtra, Husain was a frail child and his parents feared he may not survive. But it was his mother Zainab bibi, who passed away a few years after his birth. An incident that left its scar. 8216;8216;I8217;m always in search of Shakti and Ma, but I can8217;t claim to have found her,8217;8217; he says.
It was only at the age of 27, when he tired of the business of book-keeping at his family8217;s general store in Mumbai8217;s Ranipur Bazaar that Husain began his journey as an artist. He was drawn mothlike to art and when he met the Bengal school master painter N S Bendre he could no longer resist destiny.
Now, having come full circle from painting for the salons of Paris, London and Mumbai, to taking the decision to reach out to the masses with his art, Husain does things on his own terms. His artist colleagues understand his need to keep detached from a community kinked by its own creative twitches. Occasionally they even doff their hat. No artist, including best buddy Bal Chabbda or Akbar Padamsee8212;both have known Husain for more than five decades8212;claim to be 8216;close8217; to the painter. 8216;8216;The remarkable thing about Husain is that he walks alone and yet the crowds are with him,8217;8217; says Padamsee.
8216;8216;The people I enjoy talking to the most are scientists and architects. They have the most interesting insights about my work,8217;8217; says Husain. Dr P Bhargava of the Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, spent two hours talking to him after one of his big shows. 8216;8216;Husain8217;s work interests me because he addresses illusion at different levels. In painting, for example, he moves from his vision or illusion to a more tangible image that takes shape on the canvas. While in film, he moves from the reality of sets, lights, actors, to a glittering illusion,8217;8217; says Bhargava.
Speaking of which the father-son team of Maqbool and Owais Husain, are putting the finishing touches to their two-year joint venture Meenaxi. Both the headstrong artists had to work out an equation that gave their different sensibilities room to breathe.
8220;Once we had such a big row on location at Jaisalmer that the crew slunk off and we were left alone to settle our differences,8217;8217; chuckles Husain having put the incident behind him. After all it8217;s nothing personal.
Says the 34-year-old Owais, 8216;8216;I have always seen Husain as a fellow painter, more than my own father. We come from different schools of thought.8217;8217; He explains that Husain8217;s elements, 8216;8216;draw from the great Indian folk tradition while mine come from my urban existence. But it8217;s good that we clashed, since nothing creative comes from passivity. Rather, it8217;s born out of turbulence.8217;8217;
As for Husain, he smiles indulgently, 8216;8216;To put it visually, my metaphor would be the green parrot in a cage while his is the crow on the garbage dump! But in this film I have passed the baton on to him,8217;8217; he says, making an oblique reference to Gajagamini where he had complete autonomy.
Interestingly, though Meenaxi is nearing completion, Husain still can8217;t stop talking about his first Bollywood venture. While many find his 8216;obsession8217; with Dixit 8216;embarrassing8217; Husain is unabashed about his admiration for the actress, who is likely to play Mother India in a remake of the famous film.
8216;8216;In the last hundred years Madhuri is the only complete actress Bollywood has seen. Sure Nargis Dutt and Madhubala were beautiful but could they dance like her? Aishwarya can dance, but her beauty is a porcelain one8212;good for the mantlepiece. Madhuri is earthy 8212;a real woman8212;which is why Mother India is her dream role,8217;8217; he says, with the spontaneity of an 18-year-old with a big crush.
While fellow artists applaud his ventures on celluloid, they also say that an artist should be heard and not seen. 8216;8216;Celebrity status is a hindrance. It gets in the way of his work. One should know the name, not the person,8217;8217; says Padamsee. With an upcoming museum in Dubai that will be devoted to his art works, dreams to have a travelling show that would showcase his important paintings, two films, books and all his memorabilia, the young 87-year-old sets off, leaving a visiting card with no address 8230; only a scrawl of Madhuri and the elephant.
