This has been an extraordinary experience. The paintings are exquisite. They pay me more compliments then I deserve. Thank you and wishing you greater success….
Thus wrote Superstar Amitabh Bachchan on November 27, 2004, in the visitor’s diary at an exhibition of Sharad Pandey’s 40 paintings and a mural—all on the Big ‘B’.
The mural on Amitabh is divided into five sets and it deals with 100 films of the ‘Star of the Millennium’. The attraction of this mural is that it carries name of those films-right from Saat Hindustani to Bagbaan-and the image of the lead role that he played in those films.
Interestingly, the figures mainly deal with Bachchan’s physical appearance (minus his facial expression) in these films.
Even Amitabh was a trifle surprised to see the works. He even asked the artist why the facial expressions were not there. Pandey had the answer ready! “To draw those eyes calls for lot of hard work and I did not choose to toil with the Superstars’ eyes,” he said. And, he immediately won a fan in Big ‘B’.
Why only on Amitabh? Pandey explains: “It is not his present stardom that interests me. It is his struggle that fascinates me. All through his career he has seen a lot of ups and down and every time, he has come out stronger from the crisis.” Another testimonial of his love for Big ‘B’ is that Pandey has watched almost all the star’s films.
{{/usCountry}}Why only on Amitabh? Pandey explains: “It is not his present stardom that interests me. It is his struggle that fascinates me. All through his career he has seen a lot of ups and down and every time, he has come out stronger from the crisis.” Another testimonial of his love for Big ‘B’ is that Pandey has watched almost all the star’s films.
{{/usCountry}}His acrylic on Amitabh too, deserves special mention. Pandey, who is a recipient of several awards has also worked with MF Hussain. Talking about the art scene in India, he says, “People here are quite art loving but there aren’t enough potential buyers, here..” His present sequence of picture is a lyrical account of the inner life of the hill people.
A product of Government College of Arts and Craft, Pandey is pained to see the present status of the college in Lucknow. “There is a no dearth of good fine arts students but there isn’t proper infrastructural available.”