CHENNAI: As much as the air and the forests, our beliefs and our habits, have all changed with the times, but one thing has remained constant — the need for humour. Look at our movies — when the story is dark and serious, comedy runs as a separate track, assigned to a supporting actor whose path may mingle with the main characters at times or maybe not. The hero may join in when he can take a break from other issues of romance and periodic lectures on social rights to corrupt politicians but no matter what, mirth is rarely ignored by our filmmakers.
Art has always been considered to be that serious movie hero who has no time for the lighter side of life. An art gallery conjures up visions of stiff upper lips, peering into artworks that present perhaps an artist’s perspective of ‘The Apology of Socrates according to Plato’. Truth is, humour has always crept into art from time immemorial. Our cave paintings abound with laughs. Most sculptures from history have fair sprinklings of fun and frolic.
The Bhimbetka cave paintings, for instance, aren’t only about grave stuff. There are those light-hearted scenes too, of wild boars comically chasing tiny humans and many more such. Closer home, we have the sculptures at Mamallapuram, the Descent of the Ganges in particular, where a cat imitates the posture of a sage deep in meditation with raised arms.
Even the frescoes of yore, though steeped in religious stories, had quirkiness from everyday life and humorous depictions of characters from mythology thrown in, Kumbhakarna being a fine example. Satire was also generously used especially in miniature paintings, with lust or greed shown as comical caricatures. Royalty and religious heads were spared and never tampered with. Of course, humour had its hierarchies too!
Soon, with the pre-independence cultural evolution in India, artists began to address social ills through wit. Gagendranath Tagore’s caricatures that ridiculed the hypocrisies of the modern world, like the fat Brahmin offering muddy water as purification for women whose faith blinded them to Chittaprosad Bhattacharya’s portrayal of the apathy of the British to the deadly famine of 1943, were all blunt with that faint whisper of satire in it. In the years following independence, artists continued to tickle the funny bone through their art. Bhupen Khakkar’s attempts to break through rigid moralities regarding homosexuality, back in the 80’s to Krishen Khanna’s brilliant murals that poked fun at the peculiarities in human behaviour are all reminders that life also has its moments of laughter.
Contemporary artists like Atul Dodiya, Dhruvi Acharya and Mithu Sen to name a few continue to amuse us even as they delve into profound ideas in their art. Who can forget the brilliancy of Mario Miranda’s or R K Laxman’s observations of society that made us smile every morning?
So, the next time you need a smile, dive into India’s rich history of humour in art and allow yourself a chuckle.