Thota Tharani interview: ‘Painting is something I do for myself’
Few art directors have left as substantial a mark on the visual imagination of Indian cinema as Padma Shri Thota Tharani. He has helped shape the visual worlds of Indian cinema across a career spanning several decades. His art direction in films such as Nayakan, Bombay and Ponniyin Selvan has earned him recognition, including two National Film Awards. Alongside this work, painting has remained a deeply personal pursuit, one that exists on his own terms. His retrospective, Thota Tharrani: A Retrospective – 1969 to Present, at Lalit Kala Akademi brings together nearly 300 works spanning six decades. As Tharani puts it, “Painting is something I do for myself, whereas cinema is work I do for others.”
Inside Thota Tharani’s retrospective
Your retrospective brings together nearly 300 works. How do your paintings differ from your work in cinema?
Painting is something I do for myself, whereas cinema is work I do for others. In cinema, a director asks you to do something, and you try to compose the whole thing. You might suggest how the composition could be better or how something could be approached differently. Painting, on the other hand, is mine. It comes from within me. Whether people like it or not, this is my art.
Looking back at six decades of work, what do you notice about your journey?
It is wonderful to see all the works on the walls. That is the best part of an exhibition. We can look back and see how we have explored different periods and approaches without taking a break from making art. I keep working on different subjects continuously. I might explore one subject for an exhibition, then move to another, then a third or a fourth, before moving on to another show. In this way, I have not wasted my time. I have kept working, and I have not become bored.
Your Symphony series draws on music. How do you translate sound into a visual composition?
When I work with symphonic music, I listen to it carefully. I do not simply make something vaguely inspired by the music. Certain notes or sounds catch my attention, and I try to divide the canvas into different sections where I can incorporate those elements. I bring these different bits together within sections of the canvas, or sometimes wrap them into a single composition.
After nearly six decades, what are you still curious to explore?
There is no end to it. You just keep making art. You never know what you might discover along the way. You might find something entirely different at the end of it.