Artist Viveek Sharma talks about how Bollywood star Vidya Balan remains his enduring muse

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photos: The painting; Vidya Balan takes a look; artist Viveek Sharma 

Artist Viveek Sharma was viewing 'Tumhari Sulu' in a multiplex in Mumbai recently. And he could not take his eyes off Vidya Balan who played the heroine.

“It was so amazing the way she got into the character of a housewife who has a dream,” says Viveek. And it was while watching the film that he had a brainwave. He would make an Indian version of the Mona Lisa, using Vidya as the model and do a canvas.  

“I will take photos and then do the painting,” says Viveek, whose ‘photo-realism’ exhibition, 'Silence, Please!', concluded recently at the ‘Gallery Beyond’ at Mumbai.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that Vidya has inspired him. A few years ago, he had gone to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York where he came across the works of legendary pop artist Andy Warhol. “There were numerous screen prints of the face of Marilyn Monroe, and they were superb,” says Viveek.

An inspired Viveek returned to India and decided to do something similar. One day, he went to watch 'The Dirty Picture' and that was when Vidya blew his mind away. “Vidya acted superbly portraying [Tamil dancer] Silk Smitha's life,” says Viveek. “I felt that there were similarities between Marilyn and Smitha. Both had stunning early successes, but as the years went by, the roles dried up. And both died young.” (Smitha committed suicide on September 23, 1996, at the age of 36; this was the same age when Marilyn died in 1962).

So Viveek set about, doing an acrylic on canvas showing Vidya biting her lower lip, and wearing just a blouse along with the lower half of a saree – an image from the Dirty Picture. But, unusually, right across the bottom, he had painted the tops of Coke cans.

Asked why, and Viveek says, “In the film industry, there is always a limited period for women artists to play heroines. For them, their career is like a coke can. When it is full, it is valuable. However, the moment the can is empty, you just throw it away.”

However, Viveek believes that Vidya is going to be a game-changer. “I believe she is going to be a heroine for a long time,” he says. “Vidya will be like Shah Rukh, Aamir Khan and the others who continue to be heroes even though they are 50 years old.”

Meanwhile, Viveek ended up doing nine paintings, in the same posture, but in different colours like red, green, brown, black and blue. When he finished the work, he showed it to celebrity collector, Shobhaa De, who took one look at it, and said, “It's fantastic! Now tell me do you want Vidya to open the show?”

An excited Viveek nodded his head. And that was how Vidya ended up inaugurating the exhibition.

And when Viveek saw Vidya in the flesh for the first time, he was smitten. “The way Vidya carried herself, in a green silk saree, was awesome,” he says. “Indian women look beautiful in their sarees, but many women do not know how to carry the costume. But it was Vidya's entire appearance that was so impressive.”

The paintings found buyers easily. One California-based collector Sunil Bommaji wanted an autographed work. When Viveek asked Vidya whether she would do so, the latter agreed immediately. So Viveek took the work to Vidya’s home. While there, he was taken aback by Vidya’s simplicity. “She was so down-to-earth, even though she is a big star now,” he says. “Vidya introduced me to her parents and sister.”

Viveek pauses and says, with a smile, “Like MF Husain had his muse in Madhuri Dixit, Vidya is my muse. And my Indian Mona Lisa.” 

(Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and New Delhi)