Artistic strokes of Malhar

No other season in India is as artistic as the monsoons. Inspired by the season, artist Prashant Prabhu has attempted to paint the Malhar raga (the classical Indian raga associated with the atmosphere of torrential rains) in his monsoon art show.

The concept of the show is rather interesting. Prashant says, “I have created all the 24 works while listening to 10 different kinds of Malhar ragas, such as Miyaki Malhar, Gaud Malhar, Sur Malhar, Nanak Malhar, Mirabai Malhar, Anand Malhar among others. All these ragas have been sung by well-known musicians like Bhimsen Joshi, Kumar Gandharva, Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Jasraj and Mallikarjun Mansoor.”

Prashant adds, “The mood and the rhythm of all the ragas is very different from each other. My paintings capture the distinct moods of these ragas. I won’t be wrong if I say that my attempt has been to paint Malhar on my canvas.”

Hill stations such as Matheran have been depicted in the paintings. “I go there every monsoon without fail as it is my favourite hill station,” asserts Prabhu.

Other places which are depicted in his paintings include Mahableshwar, Cherrapunji and Arunachal Pradesh.
However he did not create the paintings with the intention to showcase them in a commercial project.

“I was creating these for myself, for my pleasure,” says Prashant.
The 24 works in the exhibition cost between the range of Rs 9,000 to Rs 35,000.

The exhibition opens at Osmosis gallery on August 7 and will continue till August 20. To mark the occasion of Gurupurnima on August 7, students of Guru Siraj Khan (musician) will pay an ode to the season by playing Malhar raga at the venue.