When art dances to the silver screen’s tunes
CHENNAI: Have you ever pondered about the portrayal of artists in Indian cinema? Language is irrelevant here. Although there is nothing much to dwell on, as most artist characters have barely been able to nudge their way into scripts crowded with mafia dons and business tycoons, there have been a few minor victories in that fierce jostling for screen space.
These triumphs were purely based on the actor conforming to certain standards. An older character needed a growing/ grown flowing white beard with a kurta-pyjama while a younger character had the privilege of shaving off the beard and could replace the pyjama with a pair of faded jeans. A significant point to be noted is that, regardless of age, the artist character had to reek of abject poverty, alcohol and loneliness. What about female artists in cinema, you may ask.
Hallucinating, I hope? No such role for women has ever been woven into any screenplay. Those fleeting scenes of the heroine dabbling in colours are only prerequisites for her hop-skipdance song routine, watched secretly by the age-unknown hero in a wig. They are certainly not indications of her performing an artist’s role. In a country that has such a rich art and cultural heritage, a land that has produced so many celebrated artists, it is indeed strange that the artist has such minimal representation.
Doctors, engineers, bankers, entrepreneurs, taxi drivers, lawyers, disco dancers name the profession and they have all had their glorious moments on the silver screen. The artist does not qualify, simply because art has never been considered a profession. Art has always been sadly misunderstood as a hobby, dismissed as an extracurricular subject, right from school. Art contests held to mark important days like World Idli Day or International Toothache Day are regarded as duty fulfilled.
Career guidance sessions conducted before the mother of all exams, the Board exams, do not even address art as a career. A child with no clue about all the yetto- be-created masterpieces within his or her being could have gone on to become a renowned artist, with the proper advice at the right age. A few schools have tried to correct this neglect of art, only to have their efforts unappreciated by parents blinded by recurrent dreams of white-collar jobs for their offspring.
With so much ignorance around a career in arts, it is no surprise that art has been disregarded as an option. Art is like any other occupation, with its fair share of deadlines, schedules and those ladders to be climbed. The only extra ingredient in the recipe to success here is passion, for, without it, it is impossible to create anything of value or to remain dedicated. The recognition of art as a respectabl e profession, someday, will hopefully reflect in new scripts where Armaniclad, Mercedes-driving heroes play artists, and mothers are introduced as working professional artists. That would also be the day when, thankfully, that old cliched kurta would be finally cast aside unceremoniously.
JITHA KARTHIKEYAN
Email: jithakarthikeyan2@gmail.com
(Jitha Karthikeyan is an artist and curator, passionate about making art accessible to the larger public)