Up, Close amp; Then Some

Bose too is an artist, a prolific one. In two years I8217;ve been to atleast three openings of his art exhibitions. But the above comment came, unexpectedly, in the midst of a deep discussion about war. And Bose8217;s art.

The first time I met Bose I assumed he was Bengali, because of his name. Turns out he is from Kerala. Bose is his first name, Krishnamachari his second. His parents were obviously great admirers of Subhash Chandra Bose.He is a small, near elf-like creature. Softly spoken. That is if and when hespeaks! He was interviewed on radio recently and I hear that the exasperated interviewer actually asked this monosyllabic artist On Air quot;So are you going to talk to us at all, Bose?quot;

I like going to Bose8217;s exhibitions, they are each different from the last and I8217;m always curious to see what he8217;ll come up with next. Though I must admit I8217;m often confused by what he does. quot;Confusion is good,quot; he responds, quot;atleast you are questioning the work. But I am never confused when I work.quot; Are these paintings? Or installations? His work is often large, spanning tens of feet. Sometimes made of smaller, individual squares or panels. With even repetitive images, but he prefers them to be considered as one8217;. His current works are of similarly large squares, combining photographic images with blocks of bold, primary colours. Both abstract and figurative. quot;My exhibitions are very like architectural projects. I keep the gallery8217;s space in mind.quot; There is also a sculpted mural don8217;t know what else to call it!The images areof violence, of war. Bose8217;s attempt at reminding people what they tend to forget, everything that war brings in its wake. He believes that war is everyones loss and no one8217;s honour. He says he came to a realisation, talking of Kargil, that the attitude of a soldier is the same whether he be Indian or Pakistani. It8217;s all about commitment. That success, or failure, or honour are not paramount in the mind, but commitment is. Just the same as it is, or should be, for an artist or anyone else.

WAY TO GO

Another Keralite with formidable commitment to his craft is John Mathan, riding high on the crest of success. His superhit film Sarfarosh is also about violence, or the threat of it from insurgency. Not exactly about war. Though again referring to India and Pakistan. John started out as an assistant to Govind Nihalani and assisted on Aakrosh and Gandhi. He then went on to an extremely successful career in advertising films. Finally, very bravely, taking the plunge to make his firstfeature, directing, producing and scripting, Sarfarosh. I call him brave because he left a thriving and lucrative business for an uncertain future. Plus, as an unknown, he knew raising finances was not going to be easy, so he put his all into the film. Life would have been tough, had the film come a cropper!

He stood by his original choice of his protagonist, Aamir Khan, waiting two years for dates, patiently whilst many told him it was a mistake. All this when he wasn8217;t earning a sou, having burned his boats. I could go on and on about the hassles and ignominy that a first time film-maker faces. If John isn8217;t a classic example of commitment and single mindedness, I know few others.

This Keralite is also small in size, but nothing elf-like8217; about him. Passionate about all he believes in, he can pack a punch and argue up a storm like no one else. The contradiction is that he can also be totally self-effacing and shy. I can see his passion communicated in his film. I do not agree, unconditionally,with his logic, but I can8217;t help but he drawn by some of his choices. I think it8217;s that belief in himself and what he is saying, that succeeds with audiences. That and his ability to use the elements of popular cinema in an unembarrassed and convincing way. In fact I was surprised at how adept he was in the commercial, mainstream format, his not having had any useful education in the subject. I saw the film at Maratha Mandir, the audience reaction to dialogue was great fun to witness. Taalis, catcalls et all! Plus I marvel at his inadvertent? timing of a film on a relevant and contemporary theme, considering he must have written the script well over six years ago.

John and I go back a long way. I am not surprised at his success, for I have always had a high regard for his cinematic sense. But I am truly happy for him. Way to go, John!

Anuradha Tandon is a script-writer and film-maker.