CHENNAI: Raja Ravi Varma needs no introduction. Millions of Indian households get their daily dose of divine blessings from printed versions of his paintings of Hindu deities, framed straight off a calendar back in the day. Every Indian artist’s journey would have been marked at some unspecified point in time by an attempt or two at replicating his beautiful women on canvas. The man was great not just for his art, but for the way he made sure it seamlessly flowed into ordinary lives.
The year was 1894. Although riding on a wave of popularity, Ravi Varma was not content with merely painting for the connoisseurs. He started a lithographic press in Maharashtra to mass-produce his paintings of Hindu goddesses, thus allowing the artwork to be accessed by the working class, something unheard of until then. Though critics often dismiss this effort as calendar art, it can be argued that it was his singular idea that brought art into the everyday existence of the public.
Varma soon decided to take his printing press a step further. Partnering with a local entrepreneur, Govardhan Das, he imported printing machinery from Germany. At this time, a young photographer, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, from Godhra, Gujarat, was taken in as a trainee by Ravi Varma and gradually became Varma’s most trusted employee and companion. None could match Phalke’s perfect photo-litho transfers.
All was well until the turn of the century saw the curse of the plague epidemic befall the city of Bombay. In 1896, the dreaded Bubonic Plague broke out and people fled the city in thousands. As businesses fell like stacked-up cards, so did the printing press. By 1899, when the crisis deepened beyond repair and Ravi Varma was weighed down by heavy debts, he was left with no other option but to give it up. In 1901, the press was ultimately sold to Fritz Schleicher, the German technician who supplied the machinery and a close associate.
Before returning to his native state of Kerala, Ravi Varma did not merely bid goodbye to his favourite assistant. Aware of Phalke’s dream to make motion pictures, Varma offered him a large sum from the sale proceeds to fund his desire and to help him make it a reality. With this grand gesture, Varma left Bombay and passed away soon after in 1906.
Meanwhile, the young man Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, with stars in his eyes went on to make history by directing India’s first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra, in May 1913.
From the film sets and the lighting to the characters, the film was undoubtedly influenced by Varma’s art. The father of Indian cinema, fondly called Dadasaheb Phalke today, remained an ardent admirer of the man who believed in him, till the very end.
Raja Ravi Varma was not just an artist. He was a visionary. He believed in a dream that did not belong to him and stood by his conviction till his last breath. On his recently concluded 175th birth anniversary, let us pay tribute to his artistic legacy and his far-sighted generosity. A big salute to the Father of Indian art!