This week for our Community Wise segment, we bring to you the journey of Bollywood Art Project, for all you B’wood bluffs.
Tejal Sinha
Darr ke aage Bheet hai—well, that’s what renowned artist Ranjit Dahiya believes in. Wondered what that means? You might have heard the very well-known saying, Darr ke
aage jeet hai (Victory is beyond fear). But Ranjit gave this his own twist and says Walls are beyond fear.
Talking about Ranjith, he has been the man behind beautifying the walls and streets of Mumbai with gigantic portraits of film stars across generations. Through his project called the Bollywood Art Project, he has been traveling on the path to immortalizing the beauty of Indian cinema through his art. Mumbai’s romantic wistfulness enticed Ranjit Dahiya to the city of his dreams and Bollywood. His own life story is nothing short of epic. From whitewashing walls to painting larger-than-life murals of Bollywood’s most beloved stars, Ranjit’s canvases have always been divided by a ladder. Ranjit had a typical Indian
childhood in Sonipat, Haryana, complete with a healthy passion for cinema. When academics didn’t work out, he decided to make a career by whitewashing walls. As we connect with the talented artist over an exclusive chat, he recalls his first-ever coincident mural, and he said, “While I was whitewashing the walls of a school in Panipat, the Principal there asked me if I knew someone who could make a mural of Goddess Saraswati. And I was like, I can do that.” Since then, there has been no turning back; it’s been art all the way. Let us tell you, he had also worked painting trucks, buses, and autos. His next stop was the Chandigarh College of Fine Arts, followed by the nerve center of design, NID.
Ranjit finally landed in Mumbai in 2009, only to realize quickly that his UI/UX job was not his calling. He further shared, “I saw a few painters painting on the walls and asked them if I could join too, and they were like, why not? Later, seeing the work, a lady came up to me and asked if I could go with her to Paris to paint the murals of Bollywood for a show,
representing Indian cinema. Who wouldn’t say No? (he laughs). I then went there and made a 12-foot-by-32-foot mural of Amitabh Bachchan from his film Sarkar, which was very much appreciated by people there. In fact, Amitabh ji himself was there and signed my art.”
Could anyone even think of how someone who began his journey by whitewashing walls could go to a different country and represent Indian cinema through his art? A commendable journey, we must say!
He then realized, “If Indian cinema has been loved and appreciated by people across the world, what are we doing here for Bollywood? And so I quit my job to start the Bollywood Art Project in 2012.”
His first work of art that he began with his Bollywood Art Project was one of the most evergreen and iconic characters, Anarkali. As we went ahead with this interesting chat with
him, he recalled something that he to date remembers. “While I was making the mural of Anarkali, a lady in a burkha came up and stood there for a while. She later asked me, ‘Why are you making this? and I wanted to bring back the beauty of Indian cinema. And she said that Anarkali was the first movie that she had gone to watch with her husband in a theater. That shows how every film has a story in a person’s life.” He’s always been a strong
believer that a specific type of audience will visit a gallery, but on the street, a millionaire and a beggar can both see the work. There are no limits. Art in public places has the capacity to unite people. It’s truly democratic in the sense that it brings people together and allows them to participate in the process, whether as a viewer or as an artist. Similarly, Bollywood serves as a vital link that connects individuals from all walks of life. It’s actually an emotion, one that Mumbai’s fast-paced life perfectly expresses.
Out of all his astonishing arts, he feels that Amitabh Bachchan’s mural, which is the
country’s tallest mural, and Dada Saheb Phalke’s mural have been the most challenging ones that he’s made, with the large surfaces and hurdles where the murals were being made.
Ranjit, who has exhibited his BAP paintings in La Rochelle, celebrating the 32nd international film festival in Durban, and in New Delhi, further shares with us the process by which he makes the murals and said, “Firstly, I decide the art that I want to do and take a picture of it. Once that’s done, we look for a proper surface and make a grid on it. Once
the grid is ready, we draw and paint on the surface, and then put in all the detailing on it.|
As of now, due to the weather conditions, he has brought a halt to making these murals. However, on a concluding note, he said, “I do have a huge list that I’m looking forward to working on. One of them is the picture from Kal Aaj aur Kal (1971), where Raj Kapoor,
Randhir Kapoor, and Prithviraj Kapoor are seen sitting together and playing jhal and performing a Pooja. To do that, I want to make sure it’s made on a bigger surface. So, a lot is in the thought process, and I believe that until and unless I’m not satisfied with my artwork, how will the rest of the people be?”
