Vilas Naik's journey to 'India’s Got Talent'

Vilas Naik works with the HR department of an IT company but what has won him true accolades in life is his climb to the finals on the show, India’s Got Talent on Colors, for doing rapid portraits.

“I am a self taught painter and I learnt the whole process simply by trial and error. I started painting when I was about three or four years old and used to paint every now and then. I think the continuous support  that I received from my family, friends and teachers has brought me this far,” he says.

Vilas, however, couldn’t take up painting professionally, despite his interest in fine arts. “My family circumstances are such that I had to finish my education and get a job. But I had told myself that once I start working, I’d nurture my passion and that’s what I did,” he says.

 “I started rapid painting last year, hugely inspired by the American artist Danny Dent,” he explains. For the uninitiated, Dent was an American painter whop painted large portraits of celebrities at a frenetic pace, often to the accompaniment of music. “I was inspired to recreate something like Dent and started developing my own style of painting. I call it hues and tunes — shades of colours come on the canvas from the tunes in the background,” says Vilas.

Getting on India’s Got Talent was straight and simple for Vilas. “I wanted to be on the show and I auditioned in Bangalore. I received tremendous support from my company as well,” he says.

So what has been the high point of the show?

“Doing Sachin Tendulkar’s upside down portrait in three and a half minutes was great. And meeting Salman Khan was good too. He looked at the portrait and said, ‘I can do this too, but it will take me six to eight months.’ He loved my painting and I am happy I got a chance to meet him,” says Vilas.

The future plans that Vilas has made revolve around art. “Now that people recognise my artwork, I hope to be able to hold a solo exhibition in two or three months’ time,” he says. Bangalore’s certainly waiting for that.