Thursday, June 9, 2011
Husain Saab.....farewell
The Gods must have been on my side. Not only did I get to say my farewell to my beloved Baba, as I called him but I was fortunate enough to have two hours of his precious time all to myself. Husain Saab was that kind of person . Addictive. You never could get enough of his extraordinary persona. You wanted to hog every second of his time. I have spent the better part of today mourning the death of Indias greatest artist. A true renaissance figure... So much larger than life. I was lucky to have known him for close to 40 years. It was a very, very special friendship.... He touched my life more profoundly than perhaps either of us realised. Tomorrow is his funeral. I shall be there. But what's the bet he himself will be chuckling at the circus that those wicked politicians want to make out of the Masters death? I have written my tribute for the Times of India. But if you ask me no tribute is good enough for a man who was not allowed to die in his own country. We should hang our heads in shame.
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Its sad ,a very great artist and good human being,God Bless his soul...and may he rest in peace.
he was d only indian painter i knew! :o
I pray that his soul rests in peace. Life is all about Actions and Reactions .....
He dying in London and not in India is a consequence of one of his past actions. Shouldn't he have cared for the sentiments of the thousand of people of his country before painting a 'Naked Saraswati' .... Neither did he apologize for this action.
Although I mourn the death of an artist but I don't think I should hang my head in shame.
Just heard Indian Govt. wants to help bury Sri. Hussain in India, why and for what.We are very quick to proclaim each genius as ours even though we might not have contributed to its success. HE is being called Picasso of India sure he is beyond and above Picasso but ever since we forced him to live in exile we have no right to claim him as ours, he belongs to the world.
InnaLillahi Wainna Ilahi Raajioon!
Many a persons like me were fortunate to have seen, meet, discuss and were inspired for over 3 to 4 decades in Mumbai, Delhi, from Jahangir Art Gallery to what not places the world over, by his fascinating magical Artistic strokes, color, forms, innovative original creative sense and hypnotic qualities reflecting in techniques.
The man rose from rugs to riches. I had in college days requested him to pen a few words, he said I am not a politician to write slogans but he just gave in his signature in three languages. I having lived in Hazrat Nizamuddin East he in Jungpura, we often met, outside the masjid (markaz) after morning prayers, sitting on a bench having roti dipped in chai, where he would drive down by his fiat, without slippers, as ever.
A down to earth soul remained throughout his later life, unfortunately in insane controversies.
No ordinary citizen in India really cared for him except for the pseudo secularists.Art is a medium which respects religious sentiments & beliefs.MF Hussain does not belong to the category of Van gogh or Ravi Varma. He is just an ordinary painter with great infatuation towards women. A person who brags himself great does not belong to any valuable category. If he were not a criminal, he would have come back to India to face all legal tangles. Since he did not do, he is seller of Motherland.Wonder if you Shobha De & others have the guts to support the Danish cartoonist or call him to India to put up an exhibition on Prophet's cartoons. For Indians who admire MF is like " Andher Nagar Me Choupat Raaja "
lets join hands in forming a new liberal constitution, which is by the people, for the people, not just by borrowing frm British and American constitution as we have now,where we have to pay more and more taxes and inflating prices caused by creating more government wings/offices to check corruption,which is a burden on ourselves-taxpayers.We need to know where our money is going.Lets utilize our own hard earned money wisely than filling the coffers of these elected bodies.Lets take all the best policies and liberal ideas from all over the world. In the present constitution, its impossible to implement liberal ideas as we all know, 2/3 or 1/3rd majority rule in the parliament. Let me express my own anguish: I got a product shipped from US few days back.I had to pay more than half the price for custom duty, in some cases, the prices exceeds the product value, which is really absurd.u see, our money is being looted by the government, when u get killed by walking on streets with no footpath.How long will u revere this crappy constitution?U and me all have been to or seen Kumbh mela.We see the great saints of India, regardless of caste, come together.Here Government sponsors these Holy men some good quality Charas/Ganja,which is the king of herbs and its magic powers are substantiated in Ayurveda and Ancient texts of India-which I revere the most than this crappy Western Science.Isn't this funny?U allow saints to use Ganja and lock us up if we use it.
reply fast, time is ticking......
Hussain belongs to the elite. The rich filmstars, the south bombay types, socialites etc. He was a good businessman as well.
How could he come to India and face all those silly charges by vindictive people at his age?
I felt really sad when I heard about his demise. Hussain, you are as famous as Taj Mahal and as glamorous.
June 10, 2011 9:42 AM
It can be safely said, Hussain was a citizen of the world. An initial state of being exiled, later hardened into shunning India for its Indianness. His love for some of the women and close Indian associates ensured that there was a predominant Indian identity that remained in him.
So while there is this outpouring by people now that he's gone, wonder what fraction of people actually followed his art or actually talked about him and his non-controversial works when he was around.
It appears that moderates on this occasion are making amply sure that the outpouring of grief is in large part from India, and ensuring Qatar does not out-grieve India to lay any claim on the talented artist.
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India is a country who welcomes everybody from every where and we have many people from across globe who were born some where else but staying in india and wanna die in india.
Its really unfortunate for us that because of few orthodox people of the country, today a greatest artist of the globe was not able to fulfill his ultimate dream to die in his homeland.
last month on 30th of may, i saw one of his painting at ahmedabad's lucky restaurant, the message on the painting " Eshwar & Allah Ek He".
Hussanji was a great human being and extra ordinary artist, who visited the planet earth for giving an extra shade to art and humanism.
An immense loss for India, who even knowing the value of a gem ,threw it away....A legend is dead..
Hussain must be a very good painter. May be your close association of 40 years is making you speak emotionally about him. I wonder had he apologised to the people who were HURT by some of his STUPID work on Hindu god/goddess he wouldn't have paid such a high price of leaving the birth place. It mustbe painful for the fragile man to go through this.
I saw you on TIMES NOW channel yesterday with Arnab Goswami. You said someone sent you hate mail that how would you feel if someone paints your other family members in nude. Obviously its not in good taste. I gave you an alternative way at that time...Let Mr. Hussain paint a naked Prophet Mohammad running in an open field and a goat chasing him. And then yourself, Shabana Azmi and Arundhati Roy make a big poster and hang it outside your home just for a month.
After a month, let's have another debate with Arnab Goswami on the way people behave in this country and discuss about right wing people on both side of conflict.
After all freedom of expression should not be SELECTIVE.
I vividly remember making this suggestion to you...obviously you ignored it as it would not look nice in front of the foreigners or those in social circlet you meet frequently.
Another controversy brewing is Kiran Raands (Aamir Khan's 2nd or 3rd wife...not sure) comment that kids are smart enough and DK BOSE song reflects our society.
If you decide to write about this song then through your blog I would explain to Kiran Rand what exactly DK BOSS means in northern India. Believe me I won't mince words when I explain this to her. I am sure she can herself figure out whether she is product of DK BOSS or CC when her mother gave her birth...And then use the same nomenclature at home...to her brothers, sisters, in-laws...lets bring the healthy enviornment at home to it's lowest level for some CHEAP money. Way to go Kiran RAAND. I will definitely oblige her with clear explaination.
He was offered a good deal. If anyone attempted to represent Islamic figures in a brazen fashion, they would hardly have the time to arrange for exile. Not many would be spared. Hindus must not be the only ones to wear tolerance on their sleeves no matter what garbage is thrown at them. He should have attempted a physical representation of one of his own religious figures. It cannot be that difficult to understand other religious sentiment if you too, follow an organized religion. Besides, did he really think no one would protest? He should try opening up Muslim minds before stretching the already tested, overly elasticized Hindu patience.
That said, he was a skillful artist and will be missed; both for his art and his vision (that sometimes lacked judgement).
Karma pays... that what happened even with Hussain sahab..
Though he was a fabulous artist , his perceptions made him down in many ways..
may his soul rest in peace
He took into consideration the religious sentiments of the Congress and did not depict Prophet Mohammad, naked. In fact he did not even show the face of Allah which he could have envisaged as easily as Saraswati's crotch. Truly gifted artist.Why there was not a SINGLE PIECE of work in which anyone related to Islam or Christianity were painted in nude.Though he is not around here to answer.I throw this question to his fans like Shobha De.CATCH IT.These so called intellectuals & creative community kept quiet or were suffering with "selective amnesia" when there was an outburst against the Danish cartoonist. When the Hindu Goddesses were portraited outrageously then the intellectuals & creative community are talking of creative freedom!
A towering personality in the Art world has fallen. Yes, we came to know thro TV that U were present. Represent on our behalf and condole the berieved and console the dear ones.
Legend ppl come & leave their legacy behind.
And few ppl are left to talk abt it all over again.
:)
Shobha de as I said in twitter: You're living up to friends with thick & thin. What better can you ask for! Farewell to the great artist.
It's sad to see how Ms. De wrote this small blog... Why do you have to be so biased? Whatever the elite does is completely justified. However, if the same was done by a common man, his head would have surely hanged to death! I'm glad you chose write the article this way...good way to grab people's attention and remain on top in the media. Like my husband mentioned 'badnaami main bhi naam hai'...
Well done, Ms. De!
I think people like you are a disgrace to India and should be the one bowing your heads in shame for supporting a lunatic who called himself an artist and made a joke of hindu gods!! Respect our country and our country respects you!!
Maybe he should have to painted naked images of Prophet Muhammad or maybe just in London he could have drawn naked pictures of the queen...they would have probably sent him to the grave long time ago!!
Wonderful, refreshing memories of the great Indian soul who lived and died with art leaving us great teachings and setting great examples.
The most unfortunate part is to teach those out of vested interest, vengeance and spreading hatred towards a section of society or proving religiosity through amassing mob strength and have committed atrocities against a helpless individual creative soul like MF Husain that he had to die in exile, history will never pardon them.
Those are the ones who brought shame to India whilst M F Husain on the contrary enhanced pride and dignity of Indians all over the world through individual recognition of his own creative art. Surely he is a better martyr than many a scoundrel, criminal murderers at large in our nation. We have to evade, erode, suppress and correct that evil spirit breeding and spreading where so ever, that harms or kills all forms of art and the real original creative artists that make our nation mightier bringing name, fame and respect to Indians all over the world.
I agree with AM. Please copy & paste the fol: link to see a sample of the Ramayana he painted.
http://mrmulliner.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/m-f-hussain-of-liberty-libertine.htm
One may not exactly agree with the captions, but the paintings & drawings are nothing to brag about.
That said I would like Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi & all those who support Hussain so staunchly to come out in the open & declare that it is all about the art. Nobody neeed care about religious sentiments. Even if he had drawn the Prophet naked, they would've supported his art. Will anybody dare ? I'm sure they wouldn't. Because that would be considered as communal.
Hindus are the punching bag in this country. There is a lot of hypocracy & duplicity.
I had little knowledge of this freaky painter but after checking Latha's web link I am certain of the maligned mind of the painter. This freak painter seems another Vatsayayan who was writing his Kamasutra in painting version but with wrong characters.
Inspiration is not hard to get but hard to assimilate by many of us. This guy couldn't digest the inspiration and vomited it in its' ugliest form.
Limitless liberty is a myth, as one man's liberty end at the point where liberty of other ppl begins.
Creativity is constructive in nature, whereas irresponsible 'constructivity' is another form of destruction, which Hussain mastered and few similar-mind ppl supported.
He will be remembered for his good painting for sure. But Who would not remember him for painting that brings sadness & anguish on millions of faces.
We, creative ppl have responsibilities to bring ppl of the society come closer, spread love and enlightenment among them. Yes, Miss De and other ppl, who brought changes and gave (or din't give) their contribution to the betterment of the nation, to pay tribute but they mustn't ignore the voices coming from the Root Indians(apparently millions in number).
Didn't it wonder you, if he would have been here..It might have resulted in his murder than a natural death! Well, its a wise saying that.. Staying away from 'one' is ryt, if his presence do more harm than good for you.
I was not offended by MFH's paintings. It is what artists do. If my gods are so easily offended, they would be human! If my sentiments are so easily offended, then I must not be that secure in my belief, right? He was a good artist, regardless of which subject he chose.
Rest in peace, MFH - wish you had not had to flee because of our small minds.
God bless the soul of Hussain saab, the greatest artist India produced.He is the pride of our country. Sad how the government and the religious fanatics drove him away.Now we are trying to own him?Hypocrites..An artist of great intellect and commoners will not understand his depth. An artist creates work and nothing not even religion should prevent the free flow of energy and emotions.Sad that we have favoured goodagardi like RSS, Shiv Sena, VHP or BJP over humanity and secularism. My point:You don't like the show,switch the channel. sad to read some above comments which reeks of religious fanaticism, fundamentalism and its the law of the jungle prevailing.I pity some of the comments above on Hussain Saab.please understand art and its aesthetic value.
Md.Shafiq...wish you speak the same about the Danish cartoonist...he proud pride to Denmark for sure through his art...why fatwas and baying for his blood...selective hypocrisy which isnt new to your ilk...I so agree wit Harminder,Latha and Anil ....Hindus seem to be easy targets and punching bags for the so called pseudo-securarists who try to gain few minutes of fame by denigrating and talking againts Hindus all in the name of secularism...why didnt they say the same when satanic verses or da vinci code was banned in India...wasnt it creative and freedom of expression...double standards ....sorelooser...Arundati roy and the likes...
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Once upon a time, there was a man
Who was called an artist by his fans.He was born in the land of sages and saints,He grew up in the company of canvass and paint.
Our mother embraced him and we called him our brother,
Honoured and revered like none other.But they say never ever feed a snake,Its like putting your life at stake.
It bites those hand which caresses it and feed,Our mother had sown a flower, but it turned out to be a weed.
The thankless creature robbed the pride of his mother,
And ashamed all the trusting souls which called him their brother.
By painting his mother nude, he bought glory and fame
But to the true sons of soil, it was gross shame.
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