Atul Dodiya’s exhibition marries movies and art in an ode to the spectacle that Indian cinema is

Soon after completing his Secondary School Certificate examinations, Atul Dodiya faced a dilemma; should he study to become a filmmaker or to become an artist? He chose the latter and cinema’s loss became the art world’s gain.

Today, Dodiya is counted amongst the country’s most distinguished artists, but the fascination and admiration for cinema which took root in his childhood remained, and continues to nurture his creative space. He has often revisited his love for cinema in his art—whether his fixation with the 1993 action thriller Baazigar’s poster, or a seven-minute sequence from Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail, or using images from the films of Mani Kaul and Ritwik Ghatak.

In his latest exhibition titled “Dr. Banerjee in Dr. Kulkarni’s Nursing Home and Other Paintings 2020-2022”, Dodiya returns to the theme with a reel of 24 paintings. Frozen moments from films such as Anand, Padosan, Mahanagar, Anupama, Awaara, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Ittefaq and Kapurush among others from the ‘60s and ‘70s, are depicted through his oil paintings.

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Cinema As a Work of Art

Apart from entertainment, which is one of the more important aspects of cinema, Dodiya admires the latter’s ability to transform into a great work of art. “For instance, just look at Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. There is a different attitude and temperament at work here,” he says. Dodiya is interested in finding out what happens when he uses images from another medium—which is also a work of art—in his paintings. In doing so, he likes to puzzle his viewers, engaging them for a longer duration.

From Photograph to Painting

Asked to do commissioned work during the pandemic by the owner of a house previously owned by Rajesh Khanna, Dodiya suggested creating a piece of art that would be a tribute to the late superstar. In order to achieve that, the artist re-watched some of the actor's films and ended up capturing a number of images on his iPhone.

Thirty four years ago, when Dodiya did his first solo show at Gallery Chemould in 1989, he recalls that the paintings in the show were based on the photographs he had taken with his very first camera, a Nikon F2A. “In that sense, photography has been part of my early work as well,” he says. Dodiya is known for his diversity in art but for this series, he decided to return to realism, which has been a significant part of his earlier work. “That is how I thought of repainting these film stills in my own way,” he adds.

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Frozen Moments

“In cinema halls, there is no pause except for the interval, but at home, there are all kinds of distractions, from the ringing of the doorbell to phone calls among other things,” he says. Pausing the screen every once in a while when he would be watching movies, Dodiya noticed that the still images appeared different to him. “If you separate the image from the narrative of the past and the future of the film, it appears quite unusual. The gestures, the pause, the hair of the actor moving in the space—it looks fascinating,” he says.

The moments or images from the films that Dodiya chooses to freeze or engage with, are chosen to encourage visual appeal. “Often, there are moving figures and some who are sitting or standing. In a painting, it’s all deliberate—how much the artist wants to show or doesn’t want to show…it is the art of painting which matters,” he elaborates.

Merging the Real and the Unreal

As an art form, cinema is where the real and the artificial merge together to create magic on screen. “When you look at popular cinema before the 1970s, you are drawn to the narrative because of the talented actors and the music. But if you take a careful look at the sets, you would often find them mismatched or garish,” says Dodiya, who is drawn to the art and décor that cinema from that era showcased. “You were likely to find an authentic antique next to something kitschy such as a flower vase or statue. Doors and windows were often painted on flat surfaces. This unusual mix of real and unreal—the genuine emotions portrayed by professional actors and the artificial sets—together creates an interesting feeling,” he states.

“Dr. Banerjee at Dr” Kulkarni’s Nursing Home and Other Paintings 2020-2022” at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, is on display from 12 January-25 February.

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