Musicians are most expressive figures, says Prabhakar Wairkar

Amidst ardent spectators and stalwarts of Indian classical music at 59th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav that ended on Sunday, one did not miss Prabhakar Wairkar (60), a virtually disconnected figure meticulously sketching every emotion of the performer with searching eyes.

This was the award-winning artist’s first stint at the Sawai, where he put up an exhibition of 73 caricatures. Defining caricature as ‘stylised drawing’, Wairkar said this give him the freedom to capture a particular expression of the figure in its exaggerated form on canvas.

“Cartoons are intended to carry a message in a satirical form. But caricature gives you the freedom of developing a character through pictorial representation of the most exaggerated expression,” said the artist, whose works include caricatures of musicians, politicians, sportspersons and film stars.

However, Wairkar felt sketching caricatures of musicians gave him the freedom of grabbing the emotion and expression of the figure in its entirety. “Musicians are the most expressive figures and it is easy to freeze upon one of their many emotions to represent their vibrant self,” he said.

Wairkar’s works boast of a pallette full of caricatures of stalwart musicians, including Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pandit Jasraj, among others. He has compiled these caricatures of musicians in a book called Fankar i Kachari, which was unveiled at the festival by Shrinivas Joshi on Friday.

Wairkar said his caricatures were well-accepted and complimented by musical heroes and that is his biggest achievement. “When personalities like Panditji and Zakir Hussain appreciate your efforts, then you need no other compliment to justify your work. I have received first-hand compliments from these legends and that remains my biggest compliment,” Wairkar told DNA.

An illustrator and a cartoonist by profession, Wairkar considers caricature a hobby. He started in 1983, but his first on-the-spot sketching was of none other than the musical legend, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur in 1992. “I was an amateur cartoonist then and my caricature shows lack of confidence in my strokes,” he said.

Wairkar has been featured in Doordarshan’s documentary, Eminent Cartoonist of India, where he shares space with veterans in the field like Shankar Pillay and RK Laxman. He has been part of the prestigious Nice carnival held in France, where he showcased his work in 2006 and 2008.

“Though I have held exhibitions in many parts of the world, the Sawai fest is one of its best experiences. Here I get to sketch caricatures of the best classical musicians of the country in their most exuberant selves. This is challenging as well as exciting,” said the versatile artist, who considers himself an ardent music lover.