‘Padmini’- A Much Needed Biopic on Artist T.K.Padmini by Susmesh Chandroth

(Padmini- promo poster)

Biopics are a difficult genre. Still directors attempt to make them. It is a creative risk and historically speaking, a tightrope walk over the chasm of public perception about the subject of the film. Public perception, though contentious when it comes to the final visual text of a biopic, tends to dig much deeper into what has been known so far and evokes certain views regarding the subject hitherto unknown in the public domain. Selective enquires could mar the cinematic undertaking, which a biographer need not face in the aftermath of the publication of his work. Cinema is a popular medium compared to literature and it seduces the viewers to dwell more into the narrative uncritically if it is a ‘fictional’ film and like an inquisitor, if the narrative happens to be on a ‘real’ person. Nowadays biopics are produced for gaining victory in the electoral politics than fulfilling the creative aims of the director. Biopics in that sense have an intrinsic aim; they want to tell the ‘truth’ of the subject.

(T.K.Padmini)

Truth, as we understand the term today, is not absolute. It is at once relational and suggestive. Often it could present only a counterpoint to the commonly held truth regarding the discursive topic in the given context. In that case the truth dies an immediate death once the point is proven for the truth that has been disproved also destabilizes the newly ‘proven’ truth during its demise by creating a vacuum for further displacements or replacements. Today what is presented as truth could carry far more elements of imagination and projection than the truth itself. Fundamentally, the projection is not a hypothesis that needs a work(ing) towards proof but a hope and a sort of wishful thinking. Biopics embody this truth that could vary and liable to be remolded and presented differently. Therefore each biopic in it carries a possibility of another one; sometimes as a counterpoint and other times as much improved version of the previous. The best example could be seen in the biopic made on Dr.Ambedkar in various languages including Marathi, Telugu, Hindi and English. The English version, which is cited as the most authentic one directed by Jabbar Patel in a way has proved a counterpoint to the folktale types of regional versions of the same subject. Patel’s was/is a pioneering effort for the research that has undergone in the making of the film, however, the Ambedkar legacy is not linear any more as we see in this film (the regional versions too) with so much of advanced research and literature happened ever since the making of Patel’s film (2000).

(Susmesh Chandroth, director of Padmini)

Noted young writer Susmesh Chandroth’s directorial debut, ‘Padmini’ (2018) on the life of late painter T.K.Padmini (1940-1969) is a pioneering biopic. And as I said above the film evokes a lot of ‘selective enquiries’ that could mar the narrative of the film and could hold the filmmaker accountable. Taking a very lenient approach, my enquiries vis-à-vis this biopic would take two different routes to reach and find the ‘truth’ of this film, which primarily is a wishful projection of the life of a very sensitive artist by another sensitive writer. Hence there are a lot of greeneries, as expected of rural Kerala in 1940s, a lot of rain, expected of a monsoon prone land, a lot of poverty as the collapse of old Nair hold over land and wealth seen waning, a lot of filters and light playing with darkness because the time was pre-proliferation of electricity. There are two gazes embedded in the film itself; one, the gaze of Padmini at the people and her surroundings and two, the gaze of the director/cameraman/spectator at Padmini, the artist/Anupriya, the actress. More about it later.

(The image of Padmini in people's mind)

T.K.Padmini was a wonderful painter. Linda Nochlin had asked why there have been no great women painters in history. The answer she found out was simple yet shocking; women were devoid of their voices/agencies. They were either seen/treated as concubines, models, mistresses or third grade artists. The history was always written by males through male preferences, prerogatives and biases where women hardly found any mention and if at all mentioned, it was always for the wrong reasons. T.K.Padmini had a different fate though. Her name always came up with the doyens of the Madras School of Art that flourished under the legendary K.C.S.Panicker. In a way she shared the same fate with her male colleagues who survived her and some of them still living. In the North-South divide in the history making, the Southern Progressives were sidestepped or carelessly treated as if they were the country cousins who made some strange occasional excursions to the urban centers only to be laughed at or kicked at. Within that dominant history, where even the male artists from South faced difficulty to find a place, it was big NO for T.K.Padmini even to gain a mention.

(Anumol  who portrays Padmini in the biopic)

Clouded by the overarching presence of Amrita Shergil (1913-1941) and the narratives generated around her life and works by ‘national’ interests and her heir-apparent in the art field, Padmini’s life and works have been almost neglected by the mainstream art historians. The agencies like Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy or the Central Lalit Kala Akademi have also failed in bringing up Padmini as an important artist of the 20^th century. In a superstitious country like India, Padmini would have been treated as Shergil’s reincarnation if Padmini’s parents had delayed her birth by a year or so. But nothing of that sort happened. However, there is a strange resemblance in their deaths; both of them died at a very young age and shockingly, during childbirth. In the film, that culminates like an unfinished project, an incomplete poem and an abandoned architecture Padmini dies during childbirth. That’s what exactly happened in her life too. She and her husband, Damodaran were living in Madras, a city where advanced health care was available but leaving all that behind they had gone to their remote village in Kerala, where a doctor had to be brought on foot at midnight hours.

(Amrita Shergil)

Who had taken the decision to go back to the village? The film does not give an answer. Padmini was taken care of her uncle Divakara Menon since childhood and he supported Padmini in her pursuit of happiness, her desire to study art and paint. Was it Padmini’s wish to be with her beloved uncle and to feel protected during the last stage of her pregnancy? Or was it the custom that the woman should come back to her parents’ house for delivery? Was there any premonition felt by Padmini that she wouldn’t survive her pregnancy? I would like to believe that despite all her progressive and modern inclinations (when she writes from Madras, she addresses Divakara Menon ‘Dear Uncle’ instead of the customary salutation ‘ammama’) she had some ominous forewarning, a sort of intuition that she wouldn’t make it. She comes back to the village and pays her silent tribute to her uncle with a bunch of jasmine flowers. Susmesh Chandroth, the director had extensively interviewed Divakara Menon (which actually constitutes the preamble of the movie), hence I have all the reason to believe that the jasmine episode was ‘real’ or magically real collectively projected by the director and the late artist’s uncle. Somehow, in the last scene of the movie, the uncle asks why she was brought to the village leaving all the facilities of the city. The question is asked rhetorically and in all frustration, but we could see that the silent interlocutor is none other than her husband, Damodaran.

(Anumol and Sanju Sivaram as Padmini and Damodaran in the film) 

I will not dare to say that Damodarn should be held responsible Padmini’s untimely death. Ironically Shergil’s cousin and husband, Dr.Victor Egan was under the cloud of suspicion for her death, saying that he did not give her enough childbirth care. Though Susmesh narrates how Padmini died his focus does not linger more on the doubt whether she could have been saved or not. That is not only a frustrating moment for the uncle but also a frustrating one for the director himself. It is at that point he has to abort the movie and pull in the requiem by showing the paintings of Padmini in a virtual exhibition. Padmini was definitely a rebel, the works tell us. She was a rebel not because she dared to live the life of a painter but she moved away from the school of thoughts that K.C.S.Panicker and his male disciples established and propagated. While the Madras School was all about abstraction and indigenous explorations, Padmini dared to paint figurative works including her surrogate nudes, something unthinkable for a Malayali woman artist at that point of time. Her husband, Damodaran always remained an abstract artist but even for love’s sake Padmini did not deviate from her figurative style. Susmesh, in a very sensitive frame brings this moment of figurative art making a subtle confrontation with abstract art. At the steps going down to the pond that reflects the nature in a semi-abstract and semi-figurative way Padmini tells a Damodaran that her ‘desire’ to draw is not satisfied. 

(Irshad as Divakara Menon in Padmini)

It is a declaration of freedom for any artist. You could be doing abstract art. You must be bored of lines and forms. But a woman says that she wants to paint from life and from her imaginations about life. She was in love with Gauguin and she was in awe of Picasso; a factor that nobody wants to speak out for the fear of tainting her apprenticeship with KCS Panicker. But if we know that Panicker also had gone through Impressionism, Post-impressionism to reach his own expressionism and abstraction, then we wouldn’t find it difficult to accept Padmini’s love for western modernism. Padmini did not copied or staunchly followed the rules; in this case she was more like Ram Kinkar Baij. Both of them intuitively understood western modernism but never bothered to ‘copy’ them. Padmini did not declare that Kerala belonged to her the way Shergil had proudly said that India belonged to her and Paris to Picasso. Instead, Padmini held that she wanted to paint.

(Susmesh Chandroth from the locations of Padmini)

As the director of the biopic, the biggest challenge that Susmesh faces is to break free from the available truth. We do not have many portraits of Padmini. Nor do we have any reel that had captured her ‘life moments or lively moments’. Having no footage and left with a few passport size photographs of the protagonist, the director faces an interesting problem; a real artistic/creative problem. Making a lively/life figure out of one photograph and also from the narrations and anecdotes from the relatives and acquaintances of the protagonist is like a forensic act. It is like tracing a ‘reverse chronology’ and reaching the truth of the dead subject. Forensic surgeons say that it is not a field for imaginations; but of losing and erasing of all imaginations. That is the only way to stick closer to the truth. Susmesh has tried to do that with the Padmini film. In his reverse journey of making Padmini’s life out of a few photographs and anecdotes, Susmesh takes the help of Padmini herself and through her monologue, the director weave different time frames of her short life and create a fabric which is more like a small godni quilt than a fully blown Persian carpet.

(Anumol and Padmini)

Casting is a big problem when it comes to biopics. The main reason is that most of the characters in the biopics are historically known therefore some sort of idea about them is built in the public consciousness. In ‘Padmini’ Susmesh overcomes this difficulty partially because the narrative is mostly around Padmini and her uncle Divakara Menon, portrayed by Anumol and Irshad respectively. It takes some time to blend Anumol into the face of Padmini because the new truth of the movie has to replace the given truth about Padmini made available through the photographs in the public domain. Anumol has convincingly portrayed the artist; but at times one may think that the actress is too voluptuous for Padmini’s image. This is where the gaze of the viewer/director works in the film. Padmini has always been narrated as a person who lived a pious life and even the critics who have dealt with her works never bothered to deal extensively with her sexuality vis-à-vis her works and personality. Therefore we think of Padmini as a celibate character. Susmesh breaks down this public belief and builds a full and voluptuous Padmini in her narrative through the actress Anumol. Sometimes, Susmesh cannot help himself looking at longingly at the curves of her body. This is the male gaze that works without the movie. And within the movie we have the gaze of Padmini that obeying her early teacher Devassi Mash’s words keep observing things around her, enthusiastically but without losing her modesty.

(Painting by TK Padmini)

The film Padmini is done in a shoestring budget. But biopics are films that deal with personalities and history/time. While recreating personalities is an easy task with talented actors, recreating time and history needs immense financial support. Susmesh has done his best with the available money. He has dealt with the Madras portion of Padmini’s life sparsely. He has filled in the gaps with monologues, verbal references and stand in frames all of which somehow expose the glaring gaps in the movie. I wouldn’t criticize Susmesh for those gaps. He has been running from pillar to post to find funds to finish the movie. It is unfortunate that the Government of Kerala through its cultural ministry, tourism department or Lalitha Kala Academy couldn’t fund this project and make it an international project. A biopic on an artist may be successful when it is done in the scale of Frida, Jean Michael Basquiat, Life with Picasso and the latest Van Gogh movies. We can’t expect it in the case of ‘Padmini’ (Even Rang Rasia on Ravi Varma by Ketan Mehta couldn’t find box office success). Hence, Susmesh and team are carrying it around and exhibiting for a fee from the organizers. I make a public appeal through this article that the major cultural institutions in India should invite this film and the director for screening against a fee. This is subtitled in English so communication is not a problem. As I said in the beginning a biopic could bring forth a truth that could die its own death by engendering a variety of truths which means different feature takes on her life sooner or later. Though Walter D Cruz has directed a documentary on T.K.Padmini (Pattam Parathunna Penkutty) with English subtitles, Susmesh’s is the first re-creation of the artist’s life in a feature film format. Both Walter and Susmesh have done a great service to Indian culture by documenting T.K.Padmini’s life. I wish both these films travel all over India and abroad and underline the fact that ‘yes we had a great modern woman artist in Kerala’ if not many.

What Should Indian Artists Do to Survive: a Dominque Gonzalez-Foerster Lesson

(artist Dominque Gonzalez-Foerster)

With no light flickering at the other end to show that the darkness that we have been passing through for the last few years is a tunnel, our eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness and above all in the Saramago-esque fashion learning to live in utter darkness the question that has been asked by one and all in any field of profession is this: how to survive in the given context? The easiest answer or perhaps the easiest pragmatic solution is to adjust to the situation, go with the tide and practically do not even make a whimpering noise about the system that has pushed one into the darkness. Of all human rights, if you ask me, which one qualifies for the prime position, I would say, right to survive. In that case succumbing to the situation is a way of survival at the cost of the basic spirit that often helps the idea pf survival and the act of surviving.

In such a bleak scenario, artists come to me and ask whether it is lucrative to be a curator or curator cum artist, thinking that my own survival in the field of art as a curator must be a sort of cake walk compared to the tedious aspects of making, transporting, exhibiting and trading works of art, the essential deeds and deals an artist irrespective of gender needs to do for basic survival. Succumbing comes in two different packages; one, with a heavy payload of guilt, if not selective amnesia when one succumbs to the situation as an uncritical collaborator, means, darkness is okay, no, it is not just okay but it is fantastic! Two, it comes in a very glittering package, a job with a pay packet. But a job takes the labor and breath away from the artist and often the artist has to work double time to attend the works of art knocking impatiently at his sensory doors. However, jobs offer something better in the surrounding darkness; a struggle free life. Buy, save, eat full meals and when time permits, make art. Human beings are prone to guilty feelings that force them to introspect.

(Curator, Hans Ulrich Obrist)

The more artists introspect the more they come with this question: with the situation continuing for long and no changes in the offing what could be done, but without resorting to the two solutions that we have just looked into. While reading a conversation between the noted curator, Hans Ulrich Obrist with the French ‘environment’ artist (not environmental artist) Dominque Gonzalez-Foerster I chanced up the answer she provides to a similar question. There was a situation in her life in 2003. She was invited to do a set for the singer Alain Bashung, yes against a payment. Once the work was done and the time for taking her money came, the singer apparently suggested that she could monetize the ‘set’ in some gallery. Perhaps, it was a friendly suggestion (which is not clear in the conversation) but definitely a commonplace one I believe. Often those people get things done by artists take their service for granted thinking that the artists would make their money from ‘elsewhere’.

In this context Gonzalez-Foerster says something which I think is important point for the young Indian artists to ponder over. Let me quote her: “…I think it would be beneficial if artists had the opportunity to choose a path that wasn’t linked to craftsmanship or selling objects; they could choose to work in a public situation and provide a kind of show or spectacle and be paid for it. If it were clear for art students from the very beginning that they had more options than just teaching at an institution or working with galleries, it would lead to much more interesting art. I would like to work towards this change.” When I read this I was a bit taken aback for a scenario that Gonzalez-Foerster talking about was existed once upon a time when the public and private patronage for art was a cultural norm amongst the rich, which the affluent found their personal responsibility towards society and aesthetic nourishment unto themselves. With the emergence of modern economies, this idea of patronage underwent a sea change and the patronage took a new name in the dictionary of economics; investment. Investment as we know is made to make profit and in that the object upon which the investment was made carried only a symbolic value, especially that of a paper bond liable to be varied in value at its best and at its worst, discard-able as junk.

(An environment by Gonzalez-Foerster)

Gonzalez-Foerster is not just talking about a reintroduction of patronage nor is she asking for a benevolent and egalitarian investment habits and habitats. Her suggestion is rather loaded that asks for unpacking. She speaks of a path which is neither ‘linked to craftsmanship nor to selling objects’. When she says it she is unveiling an extremely disturbing fact of our times. Artists are either helping in crafting something for someone else or they are selling their crafted/created objects at whatever price. This is the case of almost all the artists however ‘successful’ they are in their creative career. Most importantly and ironically, most of them are happy about this situation provided they are getting the means to survive. Gonzalez-Foerster when she makes these suggestions is more Chaplinesque than anything else; utterly optimistic and full of goodness, which often are contrary to the ways of the world. She expects that the artists could be paid for their shows or spectacle done in a ‘public’ situation. And she goes on to wish that it would have been better if the students were taught this at the academies itself.

Now let us look at the reality against the egalitarian scenario that Gonzalez-Foerster is painting. Our academies are just working against the grain. Our educational institutions are actually working overtime to make artists who would soon become the nuts and bolts in the huge engine called the mechanistic economy. They are never train to become independent artists who could find alternative ways but they are actively encouraged to become gallery-ready artists. Further reading her and also analyzing her works in general tell us that her practice is not bound by the gallery or museum terms though she is not a stranger to the gallery/museum/art fair circuit. What makes her click is her ability to go multi-disciplinary. Here in India multi-disciplinary means the ill-equipped artists, but well equipped with money made in the market at some point try to incorporate multi-disciplinary ideas into their works. In fact these artists look ridiculous and a national shame for they do not have the ability to grasp what they seem to have ‘mastered’ in their works with the ‘help’ of others.

(Waswo X Waswo)

In India only the collectives like Raqs Media Collective and Pors and Rao could effectively work towards multi-disciplinary practices. The basic idea of creating multi-disciplinary art is intellectual and infrastructural collaboration with the experts from other fields and creating works in a combined fashion where one’s artistic identity is retained but work has always a sense of collectivity with other collaborator’s name prominently featured in the production and exhibition. You become a part and full owner of your art at the same time. In India such kind of intellectual truthfulness and clarity is shown by Waswo x Waswo in the production level negotiations. But in the case of most of the artists multi-disciplinary involvement ends up in inter-disciplinary excursions often resulting in half-baked works of art which do not have either the artistic finesse or the intellectual verve of the concerned fields. Gonzalez-Foerster perhaps makes herself more truthful and clear while most of the Indian artists try to avoid even acknowledging the technical involvement of other experts. So long as the truthfulness is not there the aspiration for alternative platforms cannot be fulfilled. And above all, what one needs for interdisciplinary and mulita-disciplinary practices is a profound intellectual make up by choice and nature. Today our artists produce works on environment, computing, gaming, refugee issues, architecture, anatomy, optics and so on without ever trying to understand the global implications and theoretical nuances. They just borrow expertise and demote the other experts as technicians.

Such artists can become fake revolutionaries in a flash. Gonzalez-Foerster makes a very good observation which I think is a perfect note to end this essay: “I am not a Marxist; I am not a communist. I am just trying to go beyond a very teenager view of art, this idea that ‘for years we didn’t make any money, so now we can drink champagne and live in big houses’. This is why it’s important to develop options for up-and-coming artists that will allow them to make a living doing exhibitions. Imagine a situation where artists can apply to a research institute. This, together with providing a fee for participating in an exhibition, would be a way to create new attitude and new kinds of work that are disconnected from certain formats. Of course, artists who want to supply the market with objects should be free to do so, but I would like to see a world in which it is possible to have both the situations.” Exactly my sentiments too.

  

Indian Artists during the Right Wing Regime and the forthcoming Venice Biennale

(Artists with Adwaita Gadanayak, Director General of the NGMA)

Are the Indian artists making the kind of art that is expected of them at this peculiar socio-cultural and political scenario in the country? The amount of time that the artists spend in the social media in order to vocalize their angst against the growing right wing extremism and its covert and overt encroachments in the field of art, culture and daily life of people in general is comparatively longer than they used to spend there in the yester years. There are three types of artistic voices expressed in the social media: one, direct and acerbic criticism of the right wing government and its henchmen. Two, controlled and metaphorical statements including expressing solidarity with the collectives responding to the right wing forces, which is often seen as something oscillating between social responsibility and critique from the safe zones. Three, sharing carefully researched articles against fascism, stories of atrocities against the Dalits and minorities and when they are in their humorous best and devoid of snobbish guards, the trolls that rip off the genetic ladders of the right wingers.

Let me go by the Bacon style here. First group is reckless while second is cautious and the third always survive. Like their recklessness the members in the first groups form a minority community that still revel in cheap cigarettes, tea and street side hangouts. The second group is a nebulous category led by a few recognizable voices. The third group is conspicuous because of its fence sitting attitude. If someone comes in search of them they could easily say that they were just ‘sharing’ the trolls for its sheer sense of humor. Let me clarify a bit here. The first is a jobless group. They don’t have anything to lose other than their revolutionary verve. The second group is committed to the cause of revolution and social justice but definitely they do not want to risk their lives. The third category is already sold out to the corporations and to their collateral agencies. The feebleness of their critique should be understood from where the food comes to their dining tables. This set of people either pretends that the corporations are really benevolent or they have not understood anything that they have read in terms of postmodern theories so far.

(Kiran Nadar, the founder director of KNMA)

With the right wing governance consolidating in India during the last five years and with a lingering hope of the extremists regarding their coming back to power even with a cut to size majority, in the art scene certain filtering and fermenting has happened and the precipitation has been quite amusing. If you look at the programs planned at the NGMAs and the group of artists regularly go around to express their allegiance to the right wing cause you would understand that all these years these gentlemen and ladies have been waiting in wings to make their entry however insignificant their roles are in the grand scheme of the tragedy. I do not want to personally criticize anybody involved in the NGMAs for at least deep in their hearts they believe they are doing the right thing. Right from the head of the NGMA to the readjusted existing staff members from the former regime and to the newly appointed director board members believe that they want to do something really ‘better’ to improve the quality of the NGMAs’ administration and enhance the quality of the exhibitions produced.

The tragedy lies in this belief. While the right wing ideology is misogynistic, anti-progressive, anti-Dalit, anti-left and anti-all-what-can-be-outside-the-pale-of-cultural-nationalism the very hope that one day these newly appointed well-wishers of culture could bring about some change itself is on a shaky platform or in other terms on a sticky wicket. Like all the totalitarian regimes do, the voices of all the director board members are heard and noted, but the final decision will be taken by the cultural heads of the right wing. Hence, if at all anybody has any illusions about doing something really revolutionary in the NGMAs the maximum that can happen is getting themselves shot or hacked at some point or unceremoniously offloaded on the way. In the best case scenario they could be signing the minutes register for all what is going to happen in terms of art exhibitions, take their TA, DA and good hospitality in three star hotels and go home with a pricking conscience if at all any ether substance of that name left in them.

(Nandlal Bose)

Two things became clearer and in perspective: one, we could see who all have been genuinely right wingers in the art scene and for long been suffocating. Two, we could also see the fence sitters and careless opportunists who went rushing to the director boards in various capacities. Take the example of the forthcoming Venice Biennale and the Indian Pavilion put together by none other than the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA). Two things became clear with the involvement of the KNMA. One, the right wingers do not have artists who could be shown to the light of the day. Two, when it comes to the corporations what leads them is not ideology but money. The India Pavilion in the Venice Biennale is led by the NGMA. It has only one thing to offer: the Haripura Panels painted by Nandlal Bose in 1938. Master Moshai, as Bose was called reverently, did this series at the insistence of Mahatma Gandhi. The right wing had shot at Gandhiji and with the right wing regime ruling India and has been vigorously distorting Indian history has absorbed Gandhiji into their pantheon. Hence, Nandlal Bose stands a chance; not Binode Behari Mukherjee who had painted the Medieval Saints.

(from a former Venice Biennale)

Now look at the other artists that the KNMA has selected for the India Pavilion. I do not want to pick them out and criticize. But out of these willing collaborators two of them were a part of the Kochi Muziris Biennale, which is heavily supported by the KNMA. That means, it is KNMA representing India in the Venice Biennale, not the NGMA or the parent organization, the Cultural Ministry. I have been told that the support of the KNMA comes as the NGMA does not have that kind of money for the logistic support. It can be true because during the UPA regime, with Rajeev Lochan as the NGMA head and Ranjit Hoskote as the curator of the Indian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale, there had been last minute glitches in Venice and the curator was temporarily bailed out by the KMB team that was touring in that part of the world for the first edition of the KMB. When the right wing regime colludes with a private cultural tycoon, it is not just an innocent act of strategic collaboration. It is a large scale cultural buy out that predominantly happen in most of the other industries. Though they may look strange bed mates, the business interests that the culture cartel leads make the conjugal a smooth affair. With no modes of resistance in hands what the participating artists could do is nothing but just behaving politely and smiling profusely on the opening day. And yes, the third category will ‘share’ all what these artists put out there in the social media, be it photographs, curatorial notes and some European press clippings.  

Notre Dame Fire Deliberate: Was it Shock Doctrine at its Best?

(Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris)

Notre Dame Cathedral, a 12^th century Gothic Church was partially gutted down by a freaky fire on 15^th April 2019. The world held its breath and watched the inferno licking away the famed church’s spiral tower and ancient roof. A renovation was underway and the fire fighters took almost a day to contain the flames. No human casualty was reported and the scale of the damage happened to the historical treasures in terms of paintings, sculptures, religious relics, golds and diamonds and so on also was not discussed in detail in the international media. While it was said that ‘a part of France soul was dead’, the French President, Emmanuel Macron said that the government would rebuild the church come whatever may.

I am not a conspiracy theorist. Nor do I have firsthand knowledge about the damages caused by the fire. However, the whole event which has been spectacularised by the television reports and the visuals shared in the social media make me think about a couple of possibilities regarding the fire and the future of Notre Dame as a center of attraction in the French Tourist Map. Tourism alone contributes to 77.7 billion Euros to France’s GDP per annum which translates in to 9.7% of the GDP of the country and 10.9% of employment. A report published in the Independent dated 15^th April 2019 underlines the impact of the Notre Dame fire on the domestic tourism. An average of 36000 visitors spent two to three hours at the Cathedral on a normal day. As it is a free entry destination, the economy is surged in terms of local hospitality industry and other collaterals.

(Fire fighters at Notre Dame)

It would take at least a year to rebuild Notre Dame back to its former glory and definitely it wouldn’t be the same Cathedral as before. But can one be sure about the decimation of its glory despite the damage caused by the fire for the fire is not new to this structure? The famed spire which has been shown/seen crumbling like matchsticks was a ‘new structure’ as the old structure was gutted in another fire in late 19^th century. With the technological revolution at its infancy the news and images of that fire must have been minimally circulated in those days and also their entry into the recorded history might have been controlled by the authorities. That means the Notre Dame that had been through the 20^th century till date was a ‘restored’ cathedral harking back and imitating the history of the 12^th century Gothic original. It also means what had been passed off as original art works, the stained glass portals and windows and most importantly the relic from crucifixion, the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ were ‘restored’ or ‘recreated’ ones.

When religious places catch fire there is always a good amount of hushing up regarding the damages in order to maintain the sanctity of the place primarily and then for rebuilding the damaged history into its pristine form. In the case of Notre Dame too this silence has been observed. Most probably the movable works of art and artefacts must have been taken to safe locations. The immobile items like murals and other altar related artefacts must have gathered soot and grimed which could be cleaned up by the restorers and conservationists. And the shifting of the art works and valuables must have taken place well before the fire is one of my ‘gut’ feeling mainly because of two reasons; one, little has been written about the damages happened to the art works. Had they been destroyed there would have been heated responses in the art world. No such debates erupted since the fire. Two, as the cathedral was under restoration and the access to the building restricted, the cathedral should have been free of people as well as the stuff that people generally came to see. Everything must have been already gone into the safe vaults including the fantastic crown of thorns.

(Rebuilding proposal submitted by Studio NAB in Paris)

It is time for me to speak about the unthinkable for the believers in the world culture in general and the staunch believers in the French sophistication in particular, also it could be blasphemous for many. The fire in the Notre Dame Church was accidental on the one hand and on the other it was an ‘expected’ fire. What has been gutted down is the wooden part of the cathedral; that means the famed roof and the legendary spiral tower. Within three days, reports had come out saying that France did not have much forest resources to rebuild the wooden structure. That may be an exaggeration for the government of France and the environmental activists may not be interested to shave off their green land to rebuild a cathedral however important it is in their collective history. It is a triumph of sustainable living over blind faith in tourism.

But income through tourism in Paris is not going to be affected because the Independent report already points out that the tourists will divert themselves to other Parisian destinations that include ‘big hitters’ like Louvre Museum and Eiffel Tower. I should add that while Notre Dame had been a free access destination the other two are paid points of attraction. So the fire has in a way or rather inadvertently facilitated the government to ‘renew’ the Notre Dame cathedral not only for maintenance but for added attraction. That means the fire could have been a deliberate disaster; a controlled disaster meant to be contained within a stipulated time once the target was achieved.

(Naomi Klein with her book Shock Doctrine)

Here I am reminded of the Canadian Writer Naomi Klein’s 2007 book, ‘Shock Doctrine; the Rise of Disaster Capitalism’. I remember this book particularly because Klein uses the analogy of shock therapy during the Nazi days to clean people’s memory and remake them. Memories are wiped out to create a new citizen. This theory she applies in the social sphere where natural calamities do the job of shock treatment. According to her the real estate and builder mafia in the world supported by the governments wait for natural calamities to happen so that a new and vast real estate possibility could be opened up and most importantly the squatters and ghettos could be cleaned up without socio-political resistance. She uses the typhoon Katrina as an example to show how it had cleaned up the areas in Florida and Louisiana and throw up a new real estate business.

(restoration of Notre Dame by Studio NAB will make such effects)

In Paris we are not looking at any real estate business. But something more than that; it could be called the updating of history. Updating of history becomes necessary on two counts; one, the existing structure becomes a mammoth of high maintenance. Two, the change of the structure could radicalize art, architecture and the domination of art and culture scene. What surprised me was the fact that within two weeks, upon on the calling of the French Government, a Paris based architecture firm, Studio NAB submitted a new roof structure for the historical building. Ever since the reports came out, it has been hailed as a futuristic structure which is contemporary and ecologically caring. This specially made greenhouse structure will slightly imitate the former wooden roof but will have plants and creepers in the place of wooden beams (something that reminds me of Shankar’s movie ‘Shivaji, the Boss’ with Rajnikant in the lead). The Independent report came out on 28^th April says that the submissions that followed the Studio NAB’s proposal range from ‘practical to ambitious to bizarre.’

(Rajni Kant in Shivaji the Boss song scene)

That means Notre Dame fire is not a fire by accident. Behind every fire now there is a reason. I am not just putting forward a conspiracy theory. I am just hinting at a possibility. Till the Second World War (WWII) Paris was the world art and culture center. Post war world saw it moving towards New York with the movement of financial capital held by most of the European Jews. Persecution of the Jews in Europe and the exile that followed in fact built the US cultural capital as well as financial capital when it needed both most. Paris always wanted to capture its cultural leadership back. With a young and forward looking President in place against the right wing Trump in the US, France could now dream to be back on the top of the world. It needs a symbol and symbol of resurrection like a Phoenix. Can any other structure in Paris could be better for the purpose than Notre Dame Cathedral?

Chithrasenan NE, Modern Book Centre and Orhan Pamuk: Trivandrum Sketches 1

(Chithrasenan NE at his Modern Book Centre)

Trivandrum is a small city; perhaps a city in India where you could walk down to most of the destinations if you are commuting to the city by train or bus and you are travelling light. Like all the airports, here too the domestic as well as international airports are located at the outskirts, but at a distance that you could cycle down. However, Trivandrum poses a strategic dilemma to any commuter within the city. The distance between two bus stops is less than half a kilometer. But the climate is so harsh that you find it difficult to cover the distance on foot. In a bus before you collect your ticket, you are at your stop. And if you are taking an auto, you wonder why you have spent twenty five rupees for that quick and flashy ride.

Still I like to walk in this city. When I walk here I imagine I am a flaneur in a French street. That was many years back; I was a young student in the city then. The buildings were small and the streets were less crowded. You could bump into some well-known writers strolling along and paying their mandatory visits to the book stalls. Trivandrum is a city where you find eleven book stalls within fifty meters. You may say Kolkata has a College Street full of book stalls. Here you don’t have a college street like that but each building near and around statue houses more than one book stall. This is apart the wayside magazine kiosks that sell books too.

(Orhan Pamuk)

After reading Orhan Pamuk, I imagine myself walking in the streets of Istanbul. Pamuk says that the streets in his home city are ruled by stray dogs. Some rules go for occasional culling through ‘genocidal massacre’. Then people start missing their strays in the streets. So they demand their strays be back in the streets. The rulers allow. A few years back Trivandrum too had this menace of stray dogs. They used to turn violent and bite old and young alike. Some found excessive food waste and the poor waste management in the city caused the dog menace. So the corporation thought of culling. But soon they found that the city had more dog lovers and activists than stray dogs. Then came the online food companies like Uber Eats. Now as one of my friends says, ‘Trivandrum’s organic waste is recycled by Uber Eaters.’

I met Chithrasenan NE in Facebook. To my surprise I also found out that he was a key person in the fabled ‘Modern Book Centre’. I have been trying to visit him ever since the Facebook introduction. But I met him in different places. One day I saw him driving a Nano. I was standing in front of the legendary Trivandrum Hotel with Dr.Ajitkumar who had turned a corner in the air conditioned restaurant his ‘city office.’ Then I met him at the Shanghumugham Art Museum twice. He had two friends with him; both of them voracious readers. Someone told me, the guy standing with Chithrasenan was a kind of reader who went to browse in a book stall and finished reading two to three books by noon.

(Chitrasenan NE)

Finally I get a chance to go to the Modern Book Centre. It is like the Alladin’s in Pamuk’s Istanbul. You get everything that you imagine in the Alladin’s. I think I could get any book there. A lane away from the General Post Office junction on your left at the MG Road where two lonely Double Decker buses ply you find this famous book store. I walk in and see people busy browsing and reading. It initially gives the sense of a well-lit old library. Book store staffs distinct by the identity cards hanging from their necks help people find the books they want. The book store is long in shape and the endless rows of books give an impression of parallel mirror reflections, infinite.

My mind goes blank. In fact I have a particular book in my mind; Gita Hariharan’s ‘I have Become the Tide’, a novel. Before I could look for it I see Chithrasenan walking towards me from the innards of the endless book store. I think he has seen me entering the shop in the CCTV monitor or it could be just an accident also. I shook hands with him and I feel relieved for making it to the store finally. I had ordered a book almost two months back; ‘Like a Thief in Broad Daylight’ by Slavoj Zizek. We talk and by the time a staff member brings Gita Hariharan’s book for me. I ask Chithrasenan about the Zizek book, hesitantly. He goes to the counter and picks it up from a particular spot, brings back to me and says, ‘I had kept it there the day you told me to.’

(Book, The Innocence of Memories by Pamuk)

A keen observer of people Chithrasenan knows my areas of interest and the book seller’s instinct is quite sharp. He shows me some interesting books. I make mental notes so that I could purchase them in the next visit. Then I ask him about Orhan Pamuk. ‘Anything after the Red Haired Woman?’ Once again he goes to the counter and picks up a book and gives it to me saying, ‘Readers of Pamuk may not like this one, but I am sure people like you would.’ The book gives me a great feeling. It is ‘The Innocence of Memories’, a screenplay cum interview cum anecdote book on how Pamuk had worked on his novel ‘the Museum of Innocence’  and a real Museum of Innocence, a museum that houses all the objects that the protagonists in the novel had used and got mention in it.

It is a tour de force, I should say. I finished reading the book in one sitting. Reminding the reader of his illustrious book ‘Istanbul’ the book is amply illustrated with images from the Museum of Innocence, the real museum, the novel and the documentary by the British filmmaker Grant Gee. Let me quote a few lines from this book which has full of memorable lines: “We have moved on from sagas to novels which tell the stories of individual human beings, but we still haven’t managed to make that transformation when it comes to museums. Unfortunately, museums today- particularly in non-western countries- still operate as epics, more concerned with flag-waving and acting as repositories of the signs and symbols of national identity. I think that museums should concentrate on the stories of individuals, and be founded upon the creativity of individuals. Like novels, museums that rest on the imagination of individuals within a nation rather than on the accomplishments of that nation as a whole will be better at portraying its people and trials they have faced.”

(Adarsh Onnatt)

At the counter, while making the payment we chat up a little more. This time we chat about Adarsh Onnatt, a young literary enthusiast who writes literary criticism in the magazines and weeklies and a voracious reader. “It is difficult to find such a reader of his age,” says Chithrasenan quite appreciative of his friend Adarsh. I have a special place for Adarsh in my mind for he was the one who took my first interview in Kerala for an online English magazine (yentha.com) edited by Sabin Iqbal, a decade ago. It is time to go. I say good bye to Chithrasenan and his elder brother who in fact sits at the cash counter. And Chithrasenan has given me good discounts. Anybody visiting Trivandrum do visit ‘Modern Book Centre’ and meet Chithrasenan too.

Death Can be an Unlikely Title but Death is the only Likely Thing: Balucharan’s Art Exhibition

(artist Balucharan)

“I live in a demotivating society,” says Balucharan, a thirty five year old artist who has currently put up his second solo exhibition at the Lalitha Kala Academy Gallery, Vyloppilli Cultural Centre, Trivandrum. Titled ‘Death’ this exhibition ironically has more ‘fantastic life’ in it in the form of painterly narratives. They do not strictly qualify as ‘narratives’ though; they are quasi-narratives with a scene loaded with cheerful and at times grave ironies culled from the interior life of the artist himself. There are two obvious sections in the exhibition; one, with the works that Balucharan had done in the initial years after his ‘official’ entry into ‘painting’ and two, the recent body of works that shows a different iconography and narrative style. The former set has dark tones almost reminding one of the works of or portions of works by the German Expressionist master, Max Beckman. In the latter set Balucharan moves between East and West as one could see both the influences of the masters of Eastern and Western modern-contemporary paintings.

(painting by Balucharan)

Balucharan is unapologetic about the influences. Having studied Applied Art for the artist painting was a covetable target but had to be achieved with a great difficulty. Hailing from a moderate family, according to him, with his father doing wood works for hotel interiors Balucharan had financial difficulty in pursuing college studies. Prevailing conditions of finance led him to take up odd jobs while pursuing a degree course in History and only when he collected enough money for his studies he could apply for formal education in fine arts; there too financial consideration came to fore and he was guided to take up Commercial Art for graduate studies. After graduating in Applied Art from Thrissur Fine Arts College, Balucharan joined the advertising world and worked for a few years. He wanted to be a painter always and once he got financial freedom, he took up painting and now he works in a firm in Trivandrum and paints at home.

(painting by Balucharan)

That may not be an exceptional story because many do much more than this. But what makes Balucharan’s works interesting is the way he sees himself and the world in his works. The first body of works that I have mentioned earlier, which could be called his ‘grey period’ all have some kind of a drama going on as the central theme and in that drama either an unsuspecting human being or a harmless animal like a rabbit is confined, observed, teased and even tortured. In all these charades the focus of their aggression is the surrogate being of the artist himself. Someone coming with an applied art background to become a painter would often face with more ridicule than acceptance. In the general parlance an applied artist is a ‘commercial artist’ who works ‘for’ other people and their ideas whereas the ‘artists’ are the ones who work for themselves with all kinds of freedom under the sky. Though this is the myth, when it comes to monetary matters both the applied and creative artists respond more or less in the same manner.

(painting by Balucharan)

Balucharan is the rabbit inside the jar or the man inside the art gallery with guns pointing at him. It is from these experiences he says that he lives in a demotivating society. In his grey phase of painting, Balucharan was ridiculed by one and all. “I go to the places where art camps and other art functions take place. They look at me curiously. They feel that I am some kind of an intruder. They do not believe that I am artist. Even my neighbors do not understand that an artist could be like me, observant, aloof but enthusiastic in artistic surroundings,” he says. Balucharan started off as a doodler and scribbler then an artist who drew a lot. According to him he could draw a chair hundred times till it loses its ‘chariness’ and becomes something else. This kind of drawing practice took him to a spiritual trip; a trip which is unlike the regular spiritual trips. “I understood objects and human beings. I also understood there is not much in their ridicule either. They are poor people.” He lost interest in people perhaps when he realized that they too were people caught up in their own situations, not really the perpetrators of threat but the victims of their own acts.

(painting by Balucharan)

With this knowledge, largely liberated, we could see Balucharan entering his ‘pink period’. He seems to have found his protagonist in these paintings; a sort of anxious chubby being which is neither a cherub nor a human being. But the artist would insist that it is his own surrogate but with some kind of genital ambiguity. This ambiguity is deliberate for the artist believes that he is a transitory being; neither a child nor a grown up person, not a god and not even a demon. He looks like as if he is taken out of his protective shell. He has a peculiar hair-do that resembles the matted locks of the ancient sages; sometimes they have wings and automatic rifles in their hands. Surrounding them are horses, horsemen, rabbits, copulating dogs and cats and so on. The phantasmagoric scenery in the paintings could be unsettling for many for the starkness of the iconic appearance of the protagonist against a surreal backdrop is too ‘abnormal’ to accept. But stylistically these are identifiable with the works of Rene Magritte and Yue Minjun.

(painting by Balucharan)

Balucharan accepts his stylistic influences and says that he is more comfortable with the Renaissance painters than the contemporary ones. I would say if his grey period paintings were the embodiments of the gazes that the other people held over/on him, the pink period works show how Balucharan has gained confidence to articulate himself within a canvas (therefore within the society) and from their observe the society in turn. If he was the object of others’ gaze in the former body, in the latest body we could see him as the one observing. But in the process he makes himself quite a bold scene. He has bugles and guns, roses and wings, the ability to sin and atone and live the life of his own, even to the extent of being an asexual one or the one who has transcended sexual orientations of any kind. Calling his works/exhibition ‘Death’ is metaphorical for the death here is also a re-birth, second life of the artist as a confident being. It could be the death of the society that he had been afraid of. It could also be the death of that coward inside him. It could be the death of conventions and restrictive archetypes. It could be the death of his nightmares. Balucharan could now change the scale of his works and also animate the iconic protagonist a bit. Postures do change in the paintings but there is kind of stiffness or diffidence in them. If it is deliberate, let it prevail and if it is not, painting is the only way to animate them further.

Why the Jakarta Mermaids Should Make Us Think about India’s Public Sculptures?

(mermaid with blouse in Jakarta)

It did make to international news though this part of the world neglected it completely. Had it been in the West perhaps the news would have rocked the art world exactly the way the shredding painting by Banksy had done it in the Sotheby’s auction hall. But it happened in a small eastern capital called Jakarta in Indonesia, a relatively Muslim majority country. In an entertainment park called Ancon Dreamland a woman artist whose name has not yet been featured in the news was commissioned to do two mermaid sculptures as a part of beautification. Today the sculptures sport two golden blouses around their breasts, a move carefully done by the park authorities in order to keep the ‘eastern family values’ and they insist that they have not been pressurized by any religious moral policing groups. It has been reported that initially the cover up of the breasts was done with a coat of paint and later with a pair of golden tube tops. Now, to the dismay of many the sculptures are moved to some unspecified location for further sprucing up.

(another mermaid bloused in Jakarta)

One does not need special mental abilities to understand it as a part of self/internal censorship by the park authorities. The very denial by the authorities of the external involvement proves that there is one if not many. It should be nothing but an ‘eastern’ sign of how Indonesia too going the ‘right’ way. World over the right wing forces have been prowling the streets to identify the morally incorrect art but only thanks to the predominant museum cultures of the West prevent them from making unwarranted entries into the premises. Besides, the museums are patronized by huge corporates whose lobbying powers with the existing governments are more than an ordinary citizen could imagine. Hence, even if the right wingers try their best to make dent on the museum culture in the west they will be disappointed. With a strong museum culture adding a lot to the tourism economy of many states no political outfit that seeks public approval would venture into moral policing. But that is not the case with the South Eastern countries.

(Yakshi by Kanai Kunchiraman)

Sitting on the powder keg of the right wing politics or right wing inclination of the influential political parties the south east Asian countries could soon turn into self-censorship as a part of their appeasing policy towards the conservative political climate. The fear factor that the right wing could destabilize the political equations and the growing anxiety among the public regarding their conflicting moral norms with the ongoing debates on socio-sexual mores could in a way make the public silent over such moves. Despite such silence and lack of interventions, there are people from odd corners of the world commenting and lampooning the authorities over such moves. Talibanization of Afghanistan was one such move in the recent history that we saw spilling over to the post war Iraq when they were destroying the museums and artefacts. Religious fundamentalism, when mixed with Nazi and Fascist tendencies could prove the most dangerous Molotov in a socio-political and cultural climate.

India has been showing such tendencies for quite some time. Though it was not driven by organized right wing parties half a century back, the right wing feelings and tendencies were instrumental in making such ridiculous moves towards art and culture. Similar cladding of the breasts was attempted on the illustrious ‘Yakshi’ sculpture by Kanai Kunchiraman at the Malampuzha Dam site in 1969.  The right wing youngsters from the area demanded an appropriate dress for the otherwise fully naked Yakshi whose body is provocatively opened to the audience/public. A very clever official who headed the contract of the site pacified the right wing youths saying that a mill at Coimbatore had been approached for a specially made sari for this thirty feet sculpture and it was awaited anytime. Whether they believed it or they were amused by the poetics of such a clever move, they called off their agitation. Today, Yakshi still sits naked exposing her ‘sex’ to the visiting public. So far no concerted efforts have been made to clad this sculpture by the strong right wing parties in Kerala. But the brittle acceptance could break at any time if political moves in India take a ‘real’ right turn.

(Navjot Altaf's sculpture given a sari by the Bastar Panchayat. Also you could see JohnyML)

M.F.Husain and the nudity portrayed by him on the Hindu Goddesses are now folk tales of the leftists and secularists. With Husain leaving first the country next this world itself, the right wingers seem to have buried their differences with him provided his works are no longer exhibited or openly sold in India. Husain for the Hindutva forces is like beef, it seems. Beef is banned in India, more or less. But in Beef Export India stands second in the world with 18% world share. The first place is for Brazil and the difference is only one percent. In Beef Export India has pushed both Australia and United States, two beef producing and eating countries to third and fourth positions respectively. Husain’s stock in the art market has not come down even if he is ‘hated’ by many Hindutva leaning market leaders including the Ambanis, whose art collection stands unparalleled in India. How does it happen, nobody knows. Perhaps, in the right wing regimes what is more hated is more circulated surreptitiously and dearly. Where sexual morality is in its stringent forms, you would have a grey market or a black market with thriving porn business.

India’s hypocrisy in terms of sexual morality is still growing. There have been efforts to clad sculptures, remove paintings from the exhibitions and even apply self-censorship by the organizers. Anybody claiming to have allegiance with the dominant right wing outfits could walk into a gallery and remove paintings and sculptures citing nudity or sexual morality as a reason. Nobody could stop them. They could stop films from making, demanding changes in the script, stop screening of movies, asking for changing of the titles. Non-obliging artists could be manhandled by them. Once in Bastar, Chattisgargh, Navjot Altaf made fifteen feet standing nude woman sculpture which was soon given a painted sari by the Panchayat for the state was then ruled by the right wing outfit. The threat is still growing. Artists have been very cautious in making visual statements. Like we have seen in history during the Fascist regimes, artists in India too have gone either silent or tactful. They have stopped openly criticizing the ruling despotic regime. Many have crossed over to the dominant camp showing willingness to paint of and for the rulers.

(Dressing up nude sculptures?)

In India there are so many sculptures in the public domain that have pronounced nudity. They have been there and were not disturbing the public morality at all. Even the oft quoted temple sculptures in various parts of India were basking under the sun wearing only sky and air for clothes. Soon they are all under surveillance. When political morality becomes vicious they compensate it with sexual morality. The more a society gets its upper echelons corrupt the more it tightens its grip on sexuality. Corrupt power employs sexual morality to whitewash its decaying facades. If we, as a society elect the right wing forces to rule us once again the possibility of our public and private works of art wearing under and upper garments cannot be ruled out. Even an electric post or tree trunk with a remote semblance of a female body part would be covered by force and definitely by order. What happened in Jakarta is not an alien thing. The process has been on in India for long and more pronounced during the last five years. Let us learn from the signals and uproot the cause than treating the symptoms misreading them for the disease.