DNA Mumbai Anniversary: Rebelling against the times, these artists have carved a niche in Art World

Alyque Padamsee: Brand new forever

At the recent Mumbai launch of Pavan K Varma’s Adi Shankaracharya, when the floor was thrown open to questions, veteran theatre person and ad-guru Alyque Padamsee asked Varma why radical Hindutva found so many takers. 

The nonagenarian did not wait for the mike, he did not preface his question with esoterics and the booming voice he threw could be heard across the auditorium, leading to applause.

But that’s him.

There are mavericks and there is Padamsee. Never one to shy off calling out social evils, he has often been the voice to go to for mediapersons as both social observer and commentator.

Alyque’s grandfather was conferred the title ‘Padamsee’ by the government when he distributed all the food in his granary in the village he headed as sarpanch during a famine. And then it became the family name. 

The advertising fraternity has variously named him ‘ad-man of the century’, ‘brand father of Indian advertising’, and even ‘God’. He has not only created over 100 brands, but also gave us some of the most iconic campaigns in India’s advertising history. 

Whether it’s Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, the MRF Muscle Man, and the Liril girl under the waterfall, the Kamasutra couple, Hamara Bajaj, the TV detective Karamchand... these creations came into being under his stewardship. His stint as head of Lintas saw it emerge as India’s largest agency. 

This would propel him into the role of regional coordinator for Lintas South Asia.

Padamsee, the lone Indian to be voted into the International Clio Hall of Fame (the Oscars of Advertising), heads the London Institute of Corporate Training. Here, he teaches leadership training and ideation. His book A Double Life on the tenets of advertising is prescribed in business schools.

And yet there is more to the institution this man is. His theatrical productions like Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tuglaq, Death of a Salesman, and Broken Images... have all created records of both mass popularity and critical acclaim. 

This track record has seen him being conferred with both the lifetime achievement award for theatre and the Tagore Ratna by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Despite his multi-faceted personality, achievements, three marriages and so much more, the enduring image of him is as Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who he essayed in Richard Attenborough’s iconic film Gandhi.

Anish Kapoor: Bean stalked

Anish Kapoor has three exhibitions of his works on simultaneously in Porto (Portugal), Rome and Paris, but it wasn’t for his art that he was in the news recently. That was for a suit against the National Rifle Association, a pro-guns lobby in the US, alleging ‘copyright infringement’ for using an image of his sculpture, Cloud Gate (also called the Bean), in its ads seeking donations. In an open letter a few months ago, Kapoor had accused the NRA of waging a “campaign of fear and hate in American society”, which had led to the shootings in Florida, Las Vegas and Texas. Since the sculpture was opened in 2006, Kapoor added in his letter, some 200 million had visited the gigantic 10m x 20m x 13m structure. The Bean, he wrote, was “an inclusive work that engages public participation”, “part of a montage of buildings that...represent liberal America” and he was “disgusted to see my work” used to spread a “vile message”.  

Not many artists would be so outspoken, but those who have followed 64-year-old Kapoor’s meteoric rise in the art scene since the 1980s would know that he is a radical both in his political beliefs and in his art practice. Recall his Walk of Compassion with Ai Weiwei for Syrian refugees, and his blistering comments on India’s present political dispensation.

Best known for very large public sculptures – Sky Mirror, a polished stainless steel disc of 10m diameter installed at Kensington Gardens and Rockefeller Centre, Marsyas which stretched 155m at the Tate Modern, the Arcelor Mittal Orbit to mark the 2012 London Olympics and Dirty Corner, also called ‘the Queen’s Vagina’ at the Palace of Versailles gardens, to name the more famous ones – Kapoor has been an innovator and pioneer in his use of new age materials, in adopting industrial production processes, in his ‘architectural’ approach to space and landscape, the sense of drama that informs his works, his play on colour, light, shadow. The Mumbai-born artist, who won the Turner Prize in 1991, is considered one of the foremost artists today in Britain, a country that he moved to live in in 1973.

Hafeez Contractor: The skyline changer

As your aircraft crosses Thane creek while landing in Mumbai, across the hillocks of Vikhroli, a bright orange steeple atop the roof of a highrise in Powai’s Hiranandani Gardens comes into view. Though it sits cheek-by-jowl with ubiquitous slums, it catches your eye even as other towers of the sprawling residential complex bearing the signature Hafeez Contractor architectural style briefly come into view in the foreground of Powai Lake.

Though a New York Times article described Contractor as Bollywood’s ‘starchitect,’ it said his style has “no signature, save a penchant for glitz,” but in the same piece, the Padma Bhushan architect has defended his work. “You definitely like a woman with lipstick, rouge, eyelashes. So if you make your building more beautiful with some appliqués, there’s nothing wrong.”

Even before he designed the tallest Indian building in Kolkata, that honour was still his in 2010 with the twin Imperial towers he designed in Mumbai. Whether the two avant-garde office orbs he built for Infosys at their Pune campus (which he calls his “dew drops”) or the 337-acre corporate educational facility for the software major off Mysore laid out around a columned structure mimicking the Vatican’s St Peter’s Basilica, New Delhi’s DLF CyberCity where a sprawling office development houses brands like Microsoft, KPMG, Lufthansa and American Express or Mumbai’s domestic airport,  there is no denying that his designs grab attention.

Little wonder then that some of the biggest Indian real estate names keep wooing him because they know he will “extract maximum out of the minimum space keeping both the slum-dwellers who have to be accommodated in redeveloped buildings and the high-paying clients happy,” as a well-known politician-builder puts it.

Contractor’s legacy will be the phallic skyscrapers that punctuate the skyline not only across the length and breadth of the city, but also the distant suburbs which are now leading almost to a merger of big cities like Mumbai and Pune.

Hanif Kureshi: The Writing on the walls

If one were to take a stroll down Sassoon Docks in Mumbai or the Lodhi district in Delhi, they would come across vivid colours, intricate artwork and breathtaking graffiti work on many of the walls. The facade of Churhgate Station now sports a giant mural of Mahatma Gandhi painted by Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra, while larger-than-life murals of jelly fish seem to swim through bright yellow walls of Hyderabad’s Maqtha Art District.

Artworks such as these can be found across cities in India – an initiative of the St+ Art Project, founded by five mavericks in the field of art and festivities. While much credit lies with renowned artist Hanif Kureshi, Artistic director and co-founder of the project, he would be the first to admit that it’s a completely collaborative effort. The 29-year-old artist, whose work has been displayed at the London Design Biennale and Venice Biennale among other major festivals, was joined in his endevour by festival director Arjun Bahl of Crayon Events & Entertainment fame, urban art curator Giulia Ambrogi, who worked at the MAXXI Museum, Italy, visual artist and photographer Akashat Nauriyal, and project director Thanish Thomas who comes with vast knowledge of broadcast journalism and the ITES sector.

The idea behind the St+Art project, founded in 2014, was the principle ‘art for all’. Taking this idea, the quintet organised six highly acclaimed art festivals across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, as well as several other beautification projects in these cities along with Goa, Kolkata and Chandigarh. Artists have come in from Australia, Germany, France, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, China and more, often collaborating on projects, thereby going beyond a beautification project and helping to bridge the gap between art communities across countries.

The St+Art project has also inspired several other city-beautification projects, including a recent pre-monsoon drive to clean and paint the Mumbai slums of Khar Danda by not-for-profit organisation Chal Rang De, who had also done a similar project in Asalpha last year. Another non-profit, City as a Canvas, also organised a painting drive by volunteers, including members of the Mumbai police, who painted parts of Andheri, Ghatkopar and Churchgate using socially relevant themes.

Not ones to rest on their accolades, the founders have organised yet another project in Amritsar bringing in type-font artists to create magic on the city walls. We wish them all the luck!

Shilo Shiv Suleman: Infinitely Woman

Bengaluru-based illustrator and artist, Shilo Shiv Suleman, 29, has painted many a large-scale wall in Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, United States, Lebanon, South Africa, Brazil, and of course, India.  Suleman’s imagery on  gender politics and empowerment told through her brand of magic realism, gives patriarchy the finger. For instance, her recent project in Tunisia invited women activists to paint representations of their vaginas on a mammoth wall next to a bar that bars women from entering. The intimate body part is “used as an insult by men... how then are women supposed to refer to their tenderest parts?” she questions in her post on handle @FearlessCollective – an initiative she birthed after the 2012 Nirbhaya episode in Delhi, that united about 400 Indian ‘artists, activists, photographers and filmmakers who use art to speak out against gender violence’. 

The petite Suleman, always dressed ethnic jewellery and bohemian outfits, looks like one her paintings. 

She’s inherited the ideas of kitsch and caricature, and a few patrons – Art Musings who’ve showcased her work in their Mumbai art gallery and promoted at their India Art Fairbooth – from mother Nilofer, an artist as well. 

Suleman admits in her interviews to painting on walls, murals, objects, installations, cloth, paper, and digital surfaces, except the canvas. It was her ‘Pulse and Bloom’ interactive installation that won her international recognition at the 2014 edition of Nevada’s Burning Man. This collaboration with neuroscientist Rohan Dixit, saw 20 larger-than-life mechanical lotuses embedded with LED lights and pulse sensors that beat and radiated light to sychronise with the heartbeats of the festivalgoer who touched them. 

Other notable works include Khoya, a storytelling app on iPad that engages kids to travel. It had Ted Global invite her to talk about ‘Using Tech to Enable Dreaming’. Her contribution for the St+Art’s 2017 revamp project for the Sassoon Docks, was embroidering hymns of drowning, loss and longing by G Nammalvar on gossamer dresses.

Suleman also turns to goddesses from Indian mythology to inspire the contemporary woman. Like the wall she painted in Ahmedabad in 2015 told the story of Bahuchara Mata cutting of her breasts and handing them to her molesters, saying (as Suleman casually words), “Hey, you want these? Take them.” Through this painting of hers on the goddess of women and transgenders, Suleman affirms to all women, as on her Behance account that documents this project, “I am more than my body”.

Shubha Mudgal: Versatility and virtuosity combined

Classical vocalist-composer Shubha Mudgal versatility straddles genres like Hindustani classical, Bhakti poetry, Haveli sangeet, and Sufi music on one hand and the contemporary and current on the other. Whether singing at a concert, rendering an ad jingle, the title song of a popular tv soap or a film track, her music is marked by a rare mellifluousness, crystal clear outlook and the ability to take the listener along.

One of the biggest draws on the concert scene, she has told DNA in the past she does not see a contradiction in exploring such varied genres. “Why should it?” she asked and added, “I don’t see these as completely removed from each other. There is a definite connect and many overlaps. Moreover, as a proud citizen of a country as diverse as ours, I feel fortunate to be able to do this. And yet there is so much more to explore and learn from.”

Mudgal has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades for her creative accomplishments, including a Padma Shri conferred in 2000. Known for her strong views on equal rights and dignity for all, she has often allied with radical, progressive causes and movements. She credits this to the Allahabad upbringing and mentoring by her parents Skand and Jaya Gupta  who were both professors of English Literature deeply interested in Hindustani music and kathak. The reading and discussion around poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Sahir Ludhianvi among other greats in her growing up years has left a deep impact on Mudgal. Her musical journey clearly shows an abiding influence of this.

Little wonder then that her concerts are much sought after not only for her musical virtuosity but the great lengths she goes in discovering rare gems of sahitya. The literary content of what is being sung has always been of great interest to me. Furthermore, an artiste cannot remain unaffected by what one witnesses in society or reads about in the media. The deeply disturbing churning one feels within at times gets reflected in the choice of compositions for a performance, she has told this writer in the past while talking of rare Brijbhasha composition she had rendered.

Sudharak Olwe: Dignity of Poverty

In a foreword to Sudharak Olwe’s celebrated anthology of photographs of Mumbai’s conservancy workers In Search of Dignity And Justice, Ratan Tata called his “sensitive photography” an eye-opener. “It’s captured and brought to our consciousness, the plight of a group of people we seem to have relegated to a collective blind spot,” said the corporate captain.

A modest Olwe had told this paper while reacting to his Padma Shri two years ago, “I merely capture images. But imagine the plight of nearly 40,000 conservancy workers who are shorn of all dignity to keep our cities clean. I this government award underlines a commitment to eliminating manual conservancy work.”

Olwe’s done stints in various media organisations, including DNA. Known for his affability and signature photography not only in choice of subject but also treatment, this consistency is as trademark as the crisp white shirts and blue jeans he’s always seen in. While his camera’s captured moving images of some of the biggest stories of our times, documenting change and afflictions of society, brings him into his own.

No wonder his work’s been exhibited/published around the world. This recipient of the National Foundation Media Fellowship in India in 1999-2000 was the only photographer from India to be invited to exhibit his work at the World Press Photo exhibition, Amsterdam, for his work on gender and environment. In 2005 he was conferred the prestigious All Roads Photographers Award by National Geographic. This led to an exhibition of his work on conservancy workers of Mumbai in Washington DC. This 2006 brand ambassador for Manfrotto, the global photography equipment major, had his work on conservancy workers exhibited and catalogued to create social awareness.

Whether representing India at the photography society of Japan, participating in the Noorderlicht Photofestival at Fries museum, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands or collaborating with international greats like German photographer Helena Schätzle, he’s done it all.

This Akola-born Maharashtrian carries achievements lightly on his shoulders. “I come from really humble beginnings. When young, fed up of misery, I’d once run away from home to Hyderabad. There, as I lived on the streets, sleeping on shop fronts and pavements, I saw up-close acute poverty and suffering like I hadn’t ever seen. It taught me to count my blessings and also inculcated a deep sense of empathy,” says the 52-year-old.

Vinod Shetty: Rocking Dharavi

It was in 2008 that Vinod Shetty of Acorn Foundation set up a rock band consisting of slum children in Dharavi. A major part of the work the foundation did was based on garbage management, and many of the children there were either sons and daughters of rag-pickers or rag-pickers themselves. Hence the idea of a junk band came about, as a part of the alternative education progam for the children. Ten years on, Dharavi Rocks has taken on a life of its own, with several of the members of the band having composed music for and featured in Bollywood films. “We used industrial water drums that as one of our main components, since you see so many of them outside the homes there,” recalls Shetty. “Other than that, we re-fashioned several boxes and containers into percussion instruments.”

From a niche music class in Dharavi, these kids have now become a part of a slum music movement that’s grabbed the attention of the country. Shetty admits that it was easy enough to get the children to be a part of the programme, or finding a professional music teacher. The volunteers also came pouring in, with Shankar Mahadevan and Sunita Rao as the chief contributors, who often conducted workshops. “The real challenge was to instil a sense of discipline in them,” he explains. “They needed to learn that just by putting on cool clothes and heavy chains around their necks, they couldn’t become performers. A lot of practice goes into it, and that sense was difficult to instil.”

Today, the influence of Dharavi music, especially the rap music of the area, is such that director Zoya Akhtar has based her next film on gully rap (titled Gully Boy), including several of the rappers from Dharavi. Shlok Sharma’s Zoo, shot entirely on iPhones, also features two rappers from here – Prince and Yoku.

Shiamak Davar: dancing to his tunes 

The 1997 Karisma Kapoor-Madhuri Dixit-SRK starrer Dil Toh Pagal Hai was perhaps the aam junta’s first tryst with contemporary dance style. Shaimak Davar, the artiste, who brought contemporary dance form to everyone’s home screen, won the National Award for choreography later that year. It was his first ever feature film. 

The success made Davar a household name. And soon, dance enthusiasts in possibly thousands, enrolled themselves in Shiamak Davar’s dance institutes.

The dancer and teacher is gifted with the mysterious ability to fuse not just dance forms such as contemporary jazz style with his very personal Indo-folk twist, but also present an amalgamation of emotions along with the chosen dance form – the result always overwhelms and moves his audiences.

Davar believes in evolving with his practice. One such example was a performance for Selcouth, a contemporary dance show presented by Davar’s dance company, which on its premiering night at Mumbai’s NCPA garnered him much acclaim. It was choreographed using ballet as the foundation with contemporary dance movements to convey women’s rights, violence and rape.

Taking these underlying themes a step forward, two years later in 2017, true to his experimental self, Davar choreographed Kaari Kaari, which discussed gender equality.  The 11-minute performance captured gender violence using a disturbing narrative. 

These choreographies deal with everyday realities because, as an artist, Davar believes that art form is a tool to propagate change – finding a connect with an audience, pushing them to make an impact. 

With almost three decades on contribution to the field of dance in India and worldwide, Davar calls his choreographing journey “fulfilling.” In an interview with The Hindu, Davar spoke about his aim: “Every day is a process of learning and teaching. I evolve with dance. There is so much to inspire me constantly and it is a journey of translating that into movement. My mission has been to impart dance education and, therefore, my dance academy has been my priority always.”

(Written by Yogesh Pawar, Gargi Gupta, Dyuti Basu, Ornella D’souza, Pooja Salvi)