BENGALURU: The already struggling industry of hand-painted cutouts and film posters, which the lockdown nearly rendered comatose, has received a lifeline in the form of the central government’s order allowing film theatres to reopen. For hundreds of artists working with art studios across Bengaluru, the headquarters of Sandalwood, the order means they can hold a brush again, months after they were forced to let go of it to take up other jobs to earn a livelihood.
D R Anand Kumar, owner of Anand Arts, located near Nataraja theatre, was looking forward to fulfilling an order of 55 cutouts of actor Darshan for his film Roberrt, but the lockdown at the end of March put paid to that. “We still have the order. Now that theatres have been allowed to open, the film production will go ahead and we can get work,” Anand said.
Sathyanarayana, an artist with Murugan Arts, fears normalcy is a long way off. Fans had placed orders for banners for birthdays of their idols in March, but those orders fell through due to the lockdown.
“We used to have 50 artists working with us, but now there is nothing. Many of our artists took up odd jobs in construction and painting (buildings), or as sales staff in garment shops,” he said. He still holds out hope, though. “Now that cinemas are allowed to open, and the bypolls have been announced, we hope we will see some light. But it is not easy as fewer movies are released.
We will have to wait at least a year to get our regular work back. But in a digital world, we don’t know...” Sathyanarayan’s worries are not misplaced. In the heyday of Kannada cinema, with superstars such as Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan and Ambareesh enthralling audiences across the state, artists were in great demand, said Sham, an artist based in Seshadripuram.
“We would get an order for at least one cutout a day. We had work seven days a week. Back then, one cutout would fetch us Rs 6,000. Now we earn Rs 50,000 for one banner, and little remains after deducting the cost of paint and artists’ fee. We do not have an association or voice to represent us before the government,” he said.