Frame of reference: A blend of cinema and love 

As the 70s drew to a close, Atul Dodiya, who had just finished his schooling, was in a quandary. He wondered what he would choose to study further—films or fine arts. Drawn to cinema from a young age—be it the moving images on screen or the larger-than-life posters painted for cinema halls—Dodiya finally decided to pursue fine arts at the Sir JJ School of Art in his hometown, Mumbai.

But the love for the reel always stayed with him. His ongoing exhibition at the Chemould Prescott Road in Mumbai—34 years after his debut show there—merges this love for cinema and art. 

Titled 'Dr Banerjee in Dr Kulkarni’s Nursing Room & Other Paintings', 2020-2022, the exhibition showcases 24 painted stills from films that Dodiya grew up watching. The idea of having 24 works at the exhibition is borrowed from the video format of 24 frames per second.

One of his favourite filmmakers, Satyajit Ray, was known to illustrate the scenes before shooting; Dodiya is doing the exact opposite—he is illustrating the scene after it has been shot. So you have Amitabh Bachchan from Anand, coming down the steps of a nursing home; Sharmila Tagore from Anupama, making her way to the door; Waheeda Rehman from Kagaz ke Phool, hanging up a picture on the wall; Balraj Sahni walking away from Leela Naidu in Anuradha, and more.

One thing that binds all these images (taken largely from films of the 60s) together is the fact that the characters are all in motion.

“There is a simple explanation to it. I would watch and re-watch these films at home. But unlike a movie hall, at home, something or the other often interrupts your viewing—a phone call, someone at the door, etc. These interruptions would prompt me to pause the film. When I would come back to the screen later, I would be struck by the frozen image, which I would capture on my phone and later enlarge it, and work on the picture in my studio, turning it into a painting,” says the 64-year-old artist.

Little wonder that the works with pastel hues and a grey shade remind one of the sepia-toned photos of the era gone by. How did this project—where cinema becomes his muse—come to be?

“Hindi film superstar of the 70s, Rajesh Khanna, was a subject close to my heart. I did a commissioned painting of him in 2019. Thus began my tryst with watching and re-watching Hindi films of the era. The images just flowed from there,” says the artist, who, in 2019, at Chemould, showcased his first exhibition around films, titled Seven Minutes of Blackmail, comprising 36 works. The paintings brought forth the suspense and mystery typical to Alfred Hitchcock’s films.

“Cinema has been a part of my practice for the last two decades,” says the artist, for whom the film is more an art form rather than a source of entertainment.   

For Dodiya, who burst onto the art scene with his 1999 Mahatma Gandhi series, titled An Artist of Non-Violence, political and social issues have always been a part of his repertoire. The turning point in his art came in 1991-92 when he travelled to École des Beaux-Arts in Paris on a French Government scholarship.

“For the first time, I saw the canonical works by the greats. I realised that art needed a certain kind of ‘freedom’. The artist needs to be set free in order to experiment with his art. My year in Paris encouraged me to do just that. I refused to be bound by what must be, and experimented with what I wanted to do,” says the artist.  

A majority of the images in the exhibition showcase the characters from behind with the face not visible. “That was a conscious move. I didn’t want the viewers’ attention caught by the face of the film stars portrayed. I wanted the viewers to take in the entire work without being distracted by the actors in the frame,” says Dodiya, adding that dinner table conversations at home—his wife Anju Dodiya is an acclaimed artist in her own right, and their daughter Biraaj has also forayed into the world of art—always revolve around art and cinema.

“These are two abiding and intersecting themes in our lives,” he smiles, as he goes back to the reel image. 

Also read: Kolkata boy Viraj Khanna shares how he accidentally discovered the artist in him