YN Lokesh, affectionately known as Gundumani, loves Sandalwood. And it shows in everything, from his ringtone, Naa ninna mareyalare, one of the most popular songs of Dr Rajkumar, to his passion of painting the titles of Kannada movies on city walls. At 49, Lokesh is passionate about drawing them, every time a film is released.
“There are innumerable movie posters and advertisements of movies but they are not as colourful as my wall paintings. Currently, I am working on movies like Shivajinagar, Pungidasa, Ring Road Shubha, Endendigu Ninnagi, Just Love and many more,” says Gundumani who hails from Tumkur and initially entered the industry as an actor.
“I did some small roles but could not get much recognition. Therefore, I took to driving an autorickshaw, joined the Communist Party, and later became the secretary of the Auto drivers’ Union. After this, I went back home and then returned to do more roles. However, I realised that I could do something more than just acting. I used to paint walls when I was in the Communist Party, and this led me to writing movie titles on city walls,” says Gundumani.
His first wall painting was for Producer Ramu’s Lockup Death followed by hundreds of movies till date.
“Today, I have benefited so much that I can look after my family and have also built my own house,” says Gundumani and adds, “Last year, I received an award from a private TV channel for my contribution to Kannada film industry and they felicitated me as : Tereya Hinde Nayaka (Hero behind the screens).”
Gundumani, who has painted names of 700-800 films, usually chooses compound walls which are generally in need of a facelift. “One board usually costs the producer Rs 200 each and they give me about 2000-3000 boards, for which I travel across the state, from taluk to hobli to village. I recently did a huge job for the movie Shravani for Rs 5 lakh. The producer insisted on more publicity for the movie as Ganesh was starring in it. He sat with me and made sure that I painted as many walls as possible,” he reveals.
Gundumani uses only branded paints as he feels they don’t fade even after five years.
“I have templates of all the letters in a variety of designs. I usually make a stencil and go by it. Every wall painting is like an asset and I love every board, I have done till today,” says Gundumani.
“I usually face problems from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the police and local officials. Once, I paid a fine of Rs 35,000 while I was painting for Nagathihalli Chandrashekar’s Amruthadare and was even imprisoned for a while. But it doesn’t matter as I have kept my art alive. I feel so excited to see the posters with Gundumani Arts written everywhere,” he explains.
Passing on the art to others, he has trained 200 artists who have now opened shops across the state.
“Not just them, even my wife is into painting and recently, she painted the title of Ring Road Shubha. With both my children into arts, it is more or less a family business now,” he says and vows to paint till his last days.
The Gundumani heritage
“It was when thriller Manju was directing Om Namah Shivaya that I shaved my head. He gave me the name Gundumani and since then I have been known by this title. My company too became known as Gundumani Arts”.