When you talk about Adil Hussain, the first thing that comes to mind is the sheer range of characters he can embody. He can seamlessly pull off playing characters ranging from a suave Commissioner of Police in the Netflix web series Delhi Crime to a rickshaw puller scrounging for a living in Ranchi in the Prakash Jha-directed film Pareeksha.

Speaking to The Better India over a video call from Scotland, where he is shooting a film, Adil describes how he captured the accent, demeanour and behaviour of a good-hearted rickshaw puller from Ranchi called Buchi Paswan, who does whatever it takes to ensure his son, Bulbul, has access to quality private school education.

“With great training, you understand physical and inner flexibility or adaptability to different body languages. That’s the fundamental training of an actor. When I say inner flexibility I mean the flexibility of your ideas, beliefs, emotions, worldview and morals. As an actor, you have to let go of them so that you can move from one role to the other in the spectrum of characters between Hitler and Jesus Christ. All of us fall within that spectrum,” says Adil.

However, he also grew up watching rickshaw pullers as a young child growing up in the small town of Goalpara, Assam, as the youngest of seven children in his household. In Goalpara, the prime mode of transportation was cycle rickshaws. His next door neighbour had rented out their hut to a rickshaw puller from Bihar.

“I remember his name, smell and demeanour. His name was Noor Mohammed Bhai, and he used to give me free rides. I would even go with him to the mechanic shop to fix his rickshaw. As far as the accent goes, I grew up listening to so many people from Bihar, who would come for work in Assam and still do till this day. They would do the odd jobs that Assamese people wouldn’t, which is actually hard work,” he recalls.

What Adil could also relate to was the economic hardships that his character in Pareeksha, Buchi Paswan, undergoes. “We grew up in a very humble household. We had land but very little cash. My father was a school teacher, who gave up the job, and became a Muslim marriage registrar with no fixed salary at all. There were days when we ate dry rotis and tea without milk since we couldn’t afford it,” recalls Adil.

Also, his father could only afford to pay for the college education of two of his eldest sons who studied law in Guwahati University. In 1982, when it was Adil’s turn to go to college, his father had retired and could only give him Rs 250 to study philosophy at B Borooah College, Guwahati.

“This amount was nothing even back then. Thus, playing the role of a poor rickshaw puller wasn’t very far from either my reality or the people I observed around me. Also, I have always been very curious and interested about accents. Since Class 7 onwards, I was a mimic actor who performed on stage. So, I had a good ear for accents as well,” he says.

Early Days on Stage

During his time in college, Adil started acting in college plays and performing as a satirist in street plays. He also mimicked popular Hindi film actors in between the performances of a local street theatre group engaged in political satire called the Bhaya Mama Group.

“There were four of us in the group and it was fearless political satire. Some people even say that we were covertly responsible for the fall of two State governments. We criticised the hell out of these governments, but with a lot of love, respect and humour. We knew these politicians very well, often referring to them as ‘Dada’ (Elder Brother). It was like criticising my elder brother for things he was doing wrong. We had the courage to do it,” says Adil.

In their pieces of political satire, they had a lot of characters to create the drama. Adil was responsible for the mimicry part and also two characters that they made up. In their performances, the Bhaya Mama Group would speak about the prevailing socio-political conditions and comment on them. The structure of the narrative, however, was based on a traditional folk form called Oja-Pali, which satirists would perform in front of kings and queens in ancient times. These performers would comment on the political situation through a melodious presentation, and would even criticise kings and queens.

So, the narrative of the Bhaya Mama Group’s performances was based on the Oja-Pali folk form, but instead of singing, they spoke. The narrative revolved around two characters — Gogoi and Bhaya Mama. While Bhaya Mama asked questions, Gogoi answered, and then they would call different characters on stage and interview them.

“It was so much fun. I did this for five years until I left for the National School of Drama in May 1990. During this time, I did a lot of mimicry and invented many new characters. Simultaneously, I did films, theatre, television, radio plays, street plays, video films and tele films. You name any form or discipline of the performing arts, and I have done it. However, when I began looking at myself, I realised acting is a serious craft that I needed to learn. Fortunately, when I landed at NSD, I already knew my weaknesses as an actor. So, my questions were very different from other actors who didn’t do as much,” he says.

In Delhi, Adil began his stage career, while also continuing to receive training from some of the most distinguished figures in Indian theatre including Khalid Tyabji and Dilip Shankar.

What did he learn from his gurus?

“It would take months for me to articulate what I learnt from them, but I will give you a little insight. The actor’s instrument is the body and whatever is within it. It’s imperative to understand the instrument you’re playing. While a guitarist has her guitar, she has to tune it and keep it clean for future performances. For the actor, the player and instrument are rolled into one. I have to understand how this instrument works. How do emotions work? How do nerves work, how each and every muscle has its own memory, and how breath is related to emotions. You breathe in a certain way because you feel in a certain way. When you’re angry, your breath is the first thing that gets affected. If you see something outside which is undesirable, the breath is the first thing which gets affected. That breath leads you to feel in a certain way. It’s about acquiring an intimate understanding of these dynamics,” he says.

After NSD, he studied at the Drama Studio London on a Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship for a year before returning to India in 1994.

Besides receiving much acclaim for his theatrical performances, which included the Edinburgh Fringe First award in Scotland, he also trained actors at the Society for Artists and Performers in Hampi (2004 to 2007) and was also visiting faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Performing Arts in The Hague, Netherlands, and NSD.

However, during this time, he also began acting in more mainstream film productions like the period drama Iti Srikanta opposite Soha Ali Khan, which was in Bengali.

He also did a series of Assamese films and small roles in the Hindi Film Industry like Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey (2009). However, it was his role in the 2010 film Ishqiya, where he acted alongside high-calibre Hindi actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan, when he got the attention of more mainstream filmmakers.

Since then, he hasn’t looked back performing in landmark films like English Vinglish opposite Sridevi (2012), Lootera (2013), Umrika (2015), Delhi Crime (2018) and even mainstream films like Agent Vinod, Kabir Singh and Force 2.

Of course, there are his mainstream films in other regional languages as well like Assamese, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam. But it’s his international projects that garnered him greater recognition like in Italian director Italo Spinelli’s Gangor, Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and the Norwegian film What Will People Say, which was Norway’s entry to the Oscars in 2018.

But what was that transition like from serious theatre to mainstream films? What is the difference between acting on stage and in front of a film camera?

Listen to how he articulates that difference in this clip.

“Adil is someone who has spent a long time developing his craft, and as a consequence, knows and understands it very well. It’s a massive deal for artists from the Northeast to see a person from a small town like Goalpara, reach the heights both in national and international cinema. Another thing which is very impressive is how he keeps himself fit. It takes a lot of effort to stay fit and remain good looking on screen like he does. In my opinion, he is the complete actor,” says fellow actor Kenny Basumatary, who worked with him in the 2014 Assamese film Raag directed by Rajni Basumatary.

Acting in Multiple Languages

Adil has starred in films spread across a multitude of languages, although he claims to be fluent in only four languages.

Thankfully, he says, the scripts come beforehand, and so one understands each and every word spoken. As an actor, one learns the nuances of the dialect, accents and the rest.

“When it comes to French films, for example, they pay you well, give you time to learn the language and pay for those lessons as well. So, you have the time, you sit, learn, prepare, go to the set and enjoy the process. Language and accents are among the most mysterious phenomena in human civilisation. When you speak a language, you understand a community’s psychological state of being. When you speak a language, the accent and sound, it makes you feel a certain way. So, my training as an actor is also to discover the meaning of the word through its sound. When you utter the word with the right phonetics, you also feel the meaning rather than merely understand it intellectually. It bypasses your intelligence and becomes an experiential understanding rather than an intellectual understanding and I am way more fond of the former,” says Adil.

Cultural Differences

When asked about the difference between acting for domestic filmmakers versus the likes of Ang Lee and Mira Nair, Adil does not delve into direct comparisons, but answers the question in terms of how one sees the world.

In this regards, he talks about his father, Zaharul Haque Md Muhiuddin, who despite living in a small town all his life was among the most ‘liberal persons’ he had ever met. Adil speaks about one particularly valuable lesson he learnt from his father, an atheist, when he was in Class 5.

“I came home one day telling father that my Arabic teacher wanted me to shave the hair inside my nose, armpits and pubic hair, whereas science books spoke of how nose hair blocks dust and saves us from viruses. When I asked him what I should do, he told me not to trust either science or religion, but find out for myself. His philosophy was experiment, find out whether it’s true or not and then accept it, but otherwise doubt everything. Similarly, he told me later that I could marry whoever I liked from whatever community and how she’ll be accepted by the family regardless,” he recalls.

In terms of cinema, Adil believes that when a creator’s worldview is broader, more liberal and can approach the truth from multiple dimensions and perspectives, then one makes a better film which will have a global impact. Attitudes like his father’s in the domestic film industry, he believes, are the exception, rather than the norm.

“We have a bunch of unbelievably talented people working on our films, but in terms of orientation, the culture of filmmaking, those who fund the films, and their dominance and dictations that directors and writers have to take into account even while conceiving a film, is a big problem. If a screenwriter writes a scene thinking who’ll produce it, they’ll start climbing down the ladders of their creativity to present a ‘more acceptable’ version. So, they stop thinking, imagining and doing things which will be way more meaningful, multi-layered or multi-dimensional. Thus, these films end up adopting a binary narrative rather than a multi-layered one. This difference exists not because of the lack of creativity amongst our filmmakers, but the traditional production culture that we have,” he says.

Even when discussing some of the finest actors he has worked with which include Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Sridevi and Vidya Balan, he harks back to the stark cultural differences that lies when working with actors on the set of a domestic project vis-a-vis an international one.

“When you talk about international actors, there is a particular culture that they bring with them while creating in a particular environment. There is this extreme priority given to human to human connection between the actors. Take the example of Gerard Depardieu, the Amitabh Bachhan of France, who I worked with in Life of Pi. He never cared about who I am, or where I have come from. All he cared about was that I was a human being and an actor. He treated me as his equal. In Star Trek: Discovery, a CBS All Access web series, the lead actor Sonequa Martin-Green treated me like her equal. The first thing she did when we met on set was give me a tight hug. She said ‘I’m so looking forward to working with you, Adil’. That broke all boundaries or hang ups we generally face in India. We face these hang ups in India because there exists a feudal system not just in the film industry but in every household. That feudal attitude is ingrained in us, which reflects in our films and every sphere of life,” he says.

Representing Cinema From The Northeast

Despite his wide appeal, Adil never misses a chance to appear in films based in the Northeast. Following him on social media, it’s hard not to see how passionately he waves the flag for cinema in the Northeast.

From Bhaskar Hazarika’s independent Assamese horror film Kothanodi (2016) to Wanphrang Diengdoh’s debut Khasi film set in Shillong called Lorni – The Flaneur (2019), he has delivered stellar performances.

In Lorni – The Flaneur, Adil plays an unemployed detective in Shillong who gets involved in a case about missing family ornaments. While the film is largely in Khasi, it’s interspersed with English and other languages spoken in this multi-ethnic city. He takes a chance on these essentially low-budget films because of the stories they’re telling written by filmmakers who possess a kind of vision not always seen in mainstream cinema. Moreover, he believes cinema from the Northeast can seriously bridge this cultural gap.

“We know what Bombay (Mumbai) looked like since our childhood through films starring Amitabh Bachhan, Dilip Kumar and Randhir Kapoor. We know about the Sun-n-Sand hotel in Juhu sitting in Goalpara. We know Bombay culture and the way they talk. The more you see a place, its people and culture on screen, the more you familiarise and accept them. When I see the history of Indian film industry, apart from Danny Denzongpa, who was mostly given negative roles because he looked different, when have you seen faces from our part of the world? Cinema is a very powerful medium for people to educate and familiarise them with different cultures. Across the Northeast, we have such talented people,” he says.

“He has definitely brought greater attention to cinema from the Northeast. A person like him can ideally occupy himself with big Bollywood or international projects, but he regularly comes back to do Assamese films as well. Those films automatically become bigger when he stars in them,” says Kenny Basumatary.

What can be done to strengthen cinema in the Northeast?

For Adil, the biggest hurdle remains the lack of knowledge amongst the authorities about what role art plays in human society. Art is a powerful tool and gives people an avenue to express themselves.

“When you can express yourself, you become a lighter person. You don’t hold grudges or seek revenge because you have expressed yourself and that somebody has listened to you, seen your work and recognised you. Expressing yourself through art makes you an emotionally lighter person and more accommodating. The lack of understanding of the role art plays in society amongst the people who hold the reins is criminally bad. We need institutions that can skill aspiring artists. We need a lot of work in educating our filmmakers on how to write a script. I know this because I keep reading scripts from different parts of the world. We need proper film institutes where people from different parts of the world can teach. I don’t see a difference in talent, but just in terms of orientation and guidance. With that sorted, you’ll see many more marvellous films from the Northeast,” he says.

“The way he conducts himself in public is one of the things I have admired. He is a very generous person as well with his time and knowledge. But what I admire the most is the way he interacts and carries himself with such dignity, patience and generosity,” says Kenny.

Education for All

His point about the need for better education harks back to that moment in Pareeksha, where one character, who is the only college graduate in the basti, talks about how he could never make much of himself without the necessary guidance. And for those who haven’t watched the film, Adil wants them to take home the gross inequities of our education system.

“Back in our days, there were only government schools. These schools attracted good and passionate teachers. Not wanting to generalize here, but quite often I have seen that those who become teachers at government schools today haven’t found anything better to do. There are no other jobs available for them. They are also paid very little. On the other hand, the focus on private schools is growing all the time and the elite class don’t worry about the rest because their children are going to the best schools. I believe that school and college education should be made tuition-free for everyone. I am sitting here today in front of you because I got a free education. The current inequities of our education system is depriving our nation of this amazing pool of talent,” he says.

And that answer in some ways captures the beauty of talking to Adil Hussain, who always connects the dots between films and real life.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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The year 2020’s Independence Day (I-Day) celebrations will be unlike any we have seen before.

Traditional I-Day events will have to be restricted with social distancing rules in place. But, that does not mean we cannot celebrate a day of nationalnational pride with the same enthusiasm.

Here, we look at all the unique ways we can make this independence day special by celebrating our nation’s rich culture online.

From movie aficionados to music and history buffs, we have something for everyone.

Immerse yourself in the country’s history

The Ministry of Tourism launched an interesting series of webinars titled ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ in April this year. The series looks at the history of different cities but for Independence Day, they have come up with special themes that focus on the freedom struggle.

Three webinars are already available and for the special occasion, two more would be out soon that would focus on the subject. The ones available in the public domain include “Memoirs of 1857 – A Prelude to Independence”, “Cellular Jail: Letters, Memoirs & Memories” and “Lesser-known stories of India’s struggle for Independence”. To access the series, click here.

Patriotic Film festival

The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has initiated an online screening of films that embody patriotism. The first-ever online film festival is a part of Independence Day celebrations by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It began on 7 August and will continue until 21 August.

The film festival would also showcase movies in different regional languages like Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati and Malayalam in addition to Hindi.

Some of the films in the line-up include Gandhi Se Mahatma Tak by Shyam Benegal, Udayer Pathey by Bimal Roy, Malayalam film Uttarayanam by G Aravindan, Tamil film Veerapandiya Kattabomman by B. R Panthulu, and Roja by Mani Ratnam, among others. The movies are being streamed here for free.

Groove to melodious tunes

Lovers of music, rejoice, as there is a lot in store. Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) will present, ‘The Freedom Concert’ featuring legendary Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. The music icon will give a solo performance and will also present a vocal rendition to Aeyri Sakhi composed by Amir Khusro in the 13th Century. You can stream the performance at 9 p.m. on 15 August either on Facebook or Youtube.

On the other hand, if you are a big fan of the Indie music scene, check out boxout.fm that has organised a 24-hour special show to celebrate India’s 74th Independence Day. The show begins at 12 a.m. on 15 August 2020 and they have promised a number of exclusive live performances, DJ sets, radio shows and podcasts.

Some of the artists in the line up include Ankur Tewari, Azadi Records, Dualist Inquiry among others. You can stream the music online or download the app on your phone.

Dance performances

If you are an ardent fan of Indian classical dance forms, you are in for a treat. The Adrija Dance Academy based in the US will showcase performances by Indians abroad. The classical dance performance will combine movements from classical dance forms like Odissi and Kathak. Music would include the sounds of the tabla. The performance begins at 10.30 pm and you can register for the free event here.

Learn about India’s development history

The/Nudge Foundation is bringing diverse experts and stakeholders from across t

he globe on one platform to discuss India’s development progress since independence and the road ahead from here. The non-stop 24-hour global event has been organised in collaboration with The Rockefeller Foundation & The Skoll Foundation.

Some notable speakers include Faye D’Souza, Ronnie Screwvala, Nalini Shekar among other big names. You can register for the event here.

So, what are you waiting for? Plan your celebrations and tell your friends and family about it too.

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

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This article has been published in partnership with Mountain Dew

What defines India’s resilient spirit? It’s people. And what makes these people so heroic? Some may say it is the zeal to do great things, while others point out the common qualities that many heroes possess — courage, sense of purpose and perseverance.

But, truth be told, there is one constant thing that drives the transformation of a country and its seemingly ordinary people — fear. Be it the fear of losing something or someone, the drive is often fuelled by courage to overcome this fear and become great.

India is filled with many such people — from the freedom fighters to the current day changemakers — who overcame their fears, to build a future for their country. So, this Independence Day, as we celebrate yet another year of exemplary greatness gifted to us by these changemakers, Mountain Dew along with Saregama, has come with a reimagined version of the iconic song ‘Ye Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka’, originally sung by Mohammed Rafi and Balbir, and written by Sahir Ludhianvi.

Mountain Dew’s version of the powerful anthem, composed by music producer/composer Ram Sampath, features vocals from prominent Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh. The new rendition written by lyricist Swanand Kirkire reiterates the recurrent philosophy of victory beyond fear- Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai and salutes the nation’s spirit of emerging victorious in the face of fear.

Guided by Singh’s electrifying voice singing the lines- Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawaano Ka, Albelo ka Mastano ka, Yahan Sadiyon Se Ye Reet Hai Ji, Har Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai Ji- the music video features Independent India’s most defining moments. Be it the 1983 cricket world cup, the launch of Mangalyaan, or the Oscar win by music maestro A.R Rahman, the song pays tribute to India’s ever-growing legendary legacy. It is a testimony of our resilience and a timely reminder that as a nation we have the power to beat all odds, we have done that in the past and can do it again.

Additionally, Mountain Dew is also using this opportunity to appreciate different brands across India, for the work they do toward empowering the country. You can find more on how they are doing it, here.

“People are looking for strength and inspiration at this time and a classic from Saregama like ‘Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawaano Ka’ along with brilliant composition by Ram Sampath, with a twist is sure to give people the strength to move forward and overcome their fears. I am thrilled to be lending my voice for this energetic track, Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai’®,” says the singer.

Here, The Better India brings to you 5 such heroes who did not let fear be an obstacle:

Devaki Amma

85-year-old Devaki Amma comes from a family of agriculturalists. Her life had always revolved around plantations and paddy cultivation. But, in 1980 she met with an accident which severely injured her leg, forcing her to discontinue what she loved. However, her attachment to farming could not be contained by fear. She planted one sapling in the backyard of her home. One led to another, and in a few years, she had created a lush green forest spread over five acres of land in Onattukara region in Alappuzha district of Kerala.

Ashif Shaikh

37-year-old Ashif’s organisation, Jan Sahas, has helped rescue over 41,000 manual scavengers and supported 15,000 rape survivors through legal action, employment etc. But, fighting this battle against unjust and discriminatory traditional customs has not been easy. Threats and warnings have become a part of his life, one that he has been successful in overcoming. He says that threats do not stop him, they only encourage him to continue.

Mohammad Shareef

“Grief either breaks you or makes you stronger. For me, it did both in succession. I was shattered until I could break no more, so I picked up the pieces to create something substantial,” says 82-year-old Mohammad Shareef, who has spent 27 years of his life burning and cremating over 4,000 unclaimed bodies in Uttar Pradesh. As a noble act of dignifying the dead, he has performed the last rites for thousands of deceased by cremating more than 3,000 unclaimed bodies of Hindus and burying over 2,500 Muslims.

Viji Penkoottu

Years ago, in Mittai Theruvu, SM Street, a shopping area in Kozhikode, Kerala, women working in the shops and malls were denied a basic human right — the right to sit or visit the toilet. Perturbed, Viji Penkoottu, a 52-year-old activist, decided to fight for change and nothing could stop her. Thanks to her efforts, The Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2018, was eventually passed after an 8-year struggle for flexible working hours and a place to sit. Viji has made sure that the voices of these women are always heard, loud and clear.

George Rakesh Babu

George Rakesh Babu started his organisation, Good Samaritans India, nine years ago. From a free clinic focused in helping dress wounds and treat elderly people, especially those abandoned in the streets, his organisation has now emerged into a full-fledged destitute home, with three branches in Alwal, Warangal and Aler, in Telangana. The organisation has helped more than 300 abandoned, old, sick or dying unclaimed people left on the roads, without charging them a penny, have another chance at a happy life.

A group of women sit in a circle. The paintbrush in their hands tipped with the most vibrant colours, creates gentle strokes on a blank canvas. They giggle through their masks, enjoying the work and gossip. These women form the core of the Aravani Art Project, a trans women’s art collective that works on public art projects like murals.

Founded in January 2016, the art collective has painted over 50 murals across India and in San Francisco, U.S. But with the onset of the pandemic, all those projects that brought so much joy came to a sudden halt.

“We are not the kind of people who sit inside. We really like being out, having fun, and interacting with people. The isolation that was brought about by the pandemic is the worst thing that could happen to us,” says Shanthi Muniswamy, a trans woman associated with the collective.

But, this enthusiastic collective has found a solution to these problems by bringing art to people’s homes. The vibrant canvases that they have been painting are up for sale and anyone who is interested can buy them.

“Half the proceeds of each painting sold is given to the artist. A portion of the remaining half is used to buy raw materials like paints. And the rest is used by these trans women to help others from their community buy essential food items like rice, dal, sugar, oil and most importantly, medicines,” says Poornima Sukumar, the founder of the art collective.

She is one of three cis women in the collective along with nine trans women. The other two cis women are Sadhna Parsad, the art director and Aditi Patkar who looks after the operations. This includes handling the canvases, looking after the orders, packing, and ensuring that the canvases reach the recipients.

Art and life

Poornima informs that the women meet once in a week at one of their homes. On other days, they use technology to keep in touch and support each other.

“We had already been painting canvases on a small scale before the pandemic hit and the objective was not to sell them. We just wanted to keep ourselves occupied. But we realised that the proceeds from selling these canvases could help a lot of members from the trans community. Especially those who are not economically sound enough to sustain during the pandemic,” says the founder.

The paintings are a riot of vibrant colours and are titled Naavu Idhivi (We exist), Bloom, Looking At You, Heart, and Pride among others. Each of these pieces come with a personalised note with information of the painter. The group paints almost seven canvases in 10 days. They began selling their art in June and have sold over 100 pieces until now.

“When we began getting canvas orders, it felt like we were finally bouncing back despite the pandemic. Also, a lot of people think that members of my community are only fit for sex work. But the work we are doing has made them realise that there are so many positive things that we are capable of doing. This is helping us gain respect,” says Shanthi.

Poornima and Shanthi both say that they have been getting a lot of love and support from people they connect with. With zero complaints from any of their clients, they hope that through their art, they find a sense of purpose in this time while also supporting other members from the trans community.

“Aravani Art Project is a platform that has encouraged and empowered us. And, art for us is like therapy. I hope people open their hearts and minds to us. It makes me really happy to think that the colours we use bring smiles to people’s faces,” says Shanthi.

To support the Aravani Art Project in their efforts you can buy their art by sending them an email at aravaniartproject@gmail.com or DM on their Instagram.

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

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To say that Amit Sadh was dealt a poor hand in life would be an understatement. The 41-year-old actor lost his father at the age of 16, ran away from home, worked as a domestic help, a security guard, an apparel salesman and eventually lived on the footpath in Delhi.

It’s this astounding career graph that makes Amit’s journey fascinating. The actor now has films like Kai Po Che, Sultan, Gold, Yaara and Shakuntala, and web series like Breathe: Into the Shadows (Amazon Prime) and Avrodh: The Siege Within (Sony Liv) to his credit.

Speaking to Amit brings out his humility, depth of perception, energy, intelligence and honesty — qualities often hard to find in our celebrities.

When asked about the spate of recent releases and the many plaudits that have come his way as a result, he tells The Better India, “I am happy that a lot of people are enjoying the work I have done. During the lockdown, I received a lot of messages from people saying that watching these shows and films have helped them in some way. Honestly, there can’t be a bigger source of joy than knowing that in some way I have been a small catalyst in helping people smile and spend time with their families.”

“My childhood wasn’t the best, but that’s life. There is a life that we are given, and there is a life we make. I am just blessed and happy about the life that followed. It took serious will to transform myself and ensure a better course for my life. Of course there were a million miracles and thousands of people who helped me along the way as well. If sharing my heartbreaks and failures inspires people, gives people hope, strength and let’s them know that they can get out of the mess they’re in, then there’s nothing quite like it,” he says.

You can watch him talking about his struggles below.

From Anger, Intolerance to Discovering Acting

Amit was barely 20 when he first came to Mumbai to fulfill his aspirations of becoming a popular star. He admits to not knowing anything about the craft of acting. What he did have was the fire within.

Amit found his first break in television. His first major role was in Neena Gupta production’s Kyun Hota Hai Pyarrr (2002/03), following which he appeared in a series of television soaps including Kohinoor (2006). There were also stints as a contestant on reality shows like Bigg Boss, Nach Baliye and Fear Factor.

“There was a lot of anger in me, and I blamed my parents and society for all my troubles. But by the age of 26, I finally realised that I needed to stop blaming the world, leave behind notions of whether what happened to me was right or wrong, and make something of myself. After doing television for a couple of years, a stark realization dawned on me that I was an empty vessel full of noise. I was not happy with the work on television, the environment, the way they worked and behaved, and decided to leave it all behind. I wasn’t doing any real acting there. Yes, I fell into the trap of meeting people in the film business, and was rejected on many occasions. When I seriously started working on myself, then the real journey began,” he says.

Another major motivating factor behind leaving television was the ‘ban’ he suffered at the hands of the television industry. He was blacklisted for being outspoken. By his own admission, Amit was like a ‘bull’, ready to fight against any perceived injustice.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Amit said, “I did not leave television to go to the movies. On television, they banned me. They called each other and said, ‘Isko kaam mat do (Don’t give him work).’ Toh phir maine kaha, ‘Achcha? Nahi de rahe ho? Toh phir main picturon mein jaaunga (Then I said, ‘Oh? You won’t give me work here? Then I will do films)’.”

His focus then shifted to bettering his craft. One thing led to another and he ended up studying acting at the reputed Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.

“There, I met different people, made friends from different walks of life with their own stories of struggle and learnt a lot from them. There I encountered books, started reading them for the first time in my life, particularly on subjects like neuro linguistic programming, and this played a part in changing my outlook towards life,” he recalls.

When I ask him to elaborate further on the change that came within, he talks about the will that eventually pushed its way through all the negativity.

“There was a very strong will that came inside me to stop cribbing, complaining and stop being angry, intolerant and impatient. Carrying those emotions also made me very unhappy. In New York, I discovered joy in the process of filmmaking and the process of creating characters. Cinema has a very healing and therapeutic effect. My journey is still ongoing, and I’m not perfect. I look to be a better version of myself everyday. That’s who I chase. I also desire to be better as a person, learn to emote better, express better, articulate better, learn to be a better actor and that’s a good struggle, which should remain for life,” he says.

Upon his return, he landed an important role in the film, Kai Po Che! (2013), where he played the character of Omkar Shashtri. Playing this role garnered him a lot of appreciation and paved the way forward. More than anything else, however, he came back as a calmer and more tolerant person who was more confident in his own craft. Ironically, the day he truly decided to become an actor, he left acting in television.

“Kai Po Che is a film which is closest to my heart. It was the turning point for me, Sushant (Singh Rajput), Raj (Rajkummar Rao) and director Abhishek Kapoor. Of course, Abhishek was coming after directing Rock On, but all of us had this angst, hunger and burning desire to prove ourselves. Angst is not negative if you use it correctly. It was a truly special film. Even today, the film gets so much love. The only sad part is that we don’t have Kai (Sushant) any more even though he’s there with us in spirit. It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me looking back. We were very pure in the process of making the film. When you are pure, you love each other, listen to each other, act for each other, respect each other, and I think this is the kind of environment artists should create,” says Amit.

During the making of Kai Po Che, he recalls being treated very well by the studio, producer and director. “There was so much positivity. When it was all over, I began chasing that feeling. I thought to myself when will I get to play another character like this or when will I get to work with such people, and that’s also the reason why for a while I didn’t get projects for a while. Having said that, I couldn’t have asked for a better start than Kai Po Che,” he adds.

Craft & Making it in Mumbai

When people come to Mumbai to fulfill their dreams as an actor, Amit believes it’s very important to understand what they’re coming for. “Are you coming here to make money? Are you coming here to become a star? Are you coming here for material prosperity? Are you coming here to become an artist? I am not anyone to judge, but you must be very specific about your goals. For me, it was very simple. I wanted to be an actor,” he says.

After leaving television, he set his goals. He wanted to grow as a human being, bring peace in his life and become an artist. All he wanted was to become a good and effective actor.

“I was lucky to start with Kai Po Che, where the team was so professional. Prior to that, I learnt the process of acting, the language, how to behave as an actor, method acting and how to prepare for a role from Lee Strasberg. After Kai Po Che, there were many who said a lot of things to me. They would tell me how I was left behind compared to Sushant and Raj. They would say there is no ‘perception’ of you. However, I took that as a positive. As an actor and artist, it’s a blessing not to have a ‘perception’ of you. This means the audience is ready to watch you perform in different roles,” he says.

It is precisely this quality that makes Amit such a well-rounded actor. And going by the names he calls out as icons like Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Aamir Khan and Manoj Bajpayee, amongst others, it’s no surprise that we have seen him play a variety of roles ranging from a special forces officer (Avrodh), police officer (Breathe), journalist (Super 30) and middle class husband (Shakuntala Devi) with conviction.

However, there is one actor from whom Amit takes his cue from — Russel Crowe. The man has played a Roman gladiator (The Gladiator), an eccentric mathematician (A Beautiful Mind) and a corrupt CIA agent (Body of Lies), and it was an interview that Crowe gave while he was promoting the film Cinderella Man (2005), which influences Amit’s approach to acting.

“In that interview, Crowe said that when he first gets a character to play, he observes and goes after its physicality. Once you get the physicality right, your insides start reacting in a different way. When I get a role, the first thing I do is think about the physicality of the part. How much weight will this character have? That will determine his demeanour, how he will walk, whether his shoulders should tilt, and once you get this right, you breathe differently, and then you become either a Kabir Sawant in Breathe or a Major Videep Singh in Avrodh. The first thing I do when I get a part is how will this character walk, weigh and talk,” he says.

“I am an actor who is dependent on his co-actors, set environment and my directors. Having said that I have been very lucky to have worked with many people who aren’t this way. I am dependent on other actors, and if I do well, the credit goes to everybody around me,” he says. Little wonder that he credits everyone in his team on social media when a movie or a web series releases. For him, making a film or web series is a collective effort, and thus makes no bones about the fact that everyone involved deserves credit.

“Amit has a lot of energy both on screen and off screen. We were doing a scene during the shooting of Yaara, where my character is attacking him and he apologises. His performance was so powerful that for a split second I got a little distracted. I ended up thinking here is an actor who puts in a lot of energy into his scenes. For that split second, I broke out of acting and went into admiring his performance while we were shooting. We didn’t have to cut and do a retake or anything. See, there has to be a give and take with your co-actors. Amit never misses any of his lines or marks. He is a thorough professional. There were no mistakes and he did his job very efficiently and as a result he definitely upped my game,” notes fellow actor Kenny Basumatary, who acted alongside Amit in Yaara.

We then talk about how to maintain focus as an actor with all the media scrutiny, pitfalls of celebrity life and distractions that come along the way.

“I keep my life very simple and free from distractions. When I started out, there were the usual distractions, pitfalls, loss of discipline and along the way I picked up some bad habits. But I got out of it soon and realised if I wanted to progress, my roots, qualities and principles which brought me here would take me forward. Soon, I found my groove, found my strength and now none of it bothers me. Now, I want to be a source of strength for others. There are a lot of people who get affected by the lifestyle, media scrutiny and superficiality of celebrity life. I am a gladiator who has learnt how to fight for my freedom, and I want to let people know that they can be their own gladiators,” he concludes.

Featured Image Courtesy:  Facebook/Breathe: Into The Shadows

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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In 2015, Bhagabata Meher from Tikirapada, a small hamlet in Odisha’s Sonepur district, was devastated after he was not selected for the State Handloom Award.

The weaver, who has over 20 years of experience in the craft, had tirelessly worked round the clock to hand weave a Sambalpuri Bandha (tie and dye) saree with mathematical equations on it. No, he did not print the complex formulas and symbols. He intricately wove the threads by hand and created a masterpiece. He hoped this piece would bag him the award, and the recognition that came with it. 

But that didn’t happen. As he practically lived a hand-to-mouth existence, he had no choice but to quickly get over his loss and continue with his weaving.

Little did he know that a copy of his stunning creation, called ‘Shri Ganeet’, would end up in Vidya Balan’s house five years later. 

“I used to feel sad about not being selected for the award, but when I saw the actress wearing it, I was pleasantly stunned. It was very rewarding for me,” Bhagabata tells The Better India. Which is slightly complicated, since the saree she wore was not the one made by Bhagabata, though he is undoubtedly the weaver behind the idea. 

So here is the interesting tale behind how the saree ended up with Vidya. And yes, there is even a happy ending. 

400 Hand Woven Sarees in 20 Yrs

Bhagabata is a class eight dropout who has been weaving sarees since he was 19. He acquired the skills and passion from his grandfathers and father, who were also weavers. When he started working on the Shri Ganeet sari, he had already made over a hundred sarees and mastered the traditional motifs of Sambalpuri Bandha.

Bhagabata has made over 400 sarees in his two-decade-old career, and for each of his exceptionally patterned sarees, the process is labour-intensive and time-consuming. 

“I spend nearly 80 hours per saree, and in a month I am able to churn out at least three of them. Though it takes a lot of time, I have developed the right amount of patience as this is my livelihood. I can work for eight hours straight at this point in my career,” informs Bhagabata. 

Though he puts in an immense amount of hard work and sincerity in his production, his monthly income is barely Rs 15,000. To make things worse, the lockdown has affected his sales further.

But that does not deter him from coming with unique decorative styles and patterns. He says there is no design in the world that he cannot replicate on his saree. 

oming back to 2015 and the State Handloom Award, Bhagabata approached Prafulla who gave him the unique idea for his submission – a replica of mathematical symbols written with chalk on a black background, which he would make on a black Sambalpuri saree.

Having absolutely no knowledge of mathematics, Bhagabata had approached Prafulla Meher, a technical assistant of the Textile and Handloom department, to make a graphical design infused with mathematical symbols, formulae and equations. Prafulla obliged him, and Bhagabata got to work.  

However, after 63 days of rigorous hard work, Bhagabata mixed up the patterns and ended up incorrectly weaving them. So he was left with just three days to make it right, and submit it for the award. 

Thankfully, he had tied and dyed four pieces. So when the first one failed, he worked on the second one. 

“The square root signs and numbers were very challenging to weave. I knew if I did not weave them sharply, it would look untidy,” he says. Bhagabata patiently worked on each symbol for three days straight and then submitted the prototype. 

But, as we mentioned, he did not win, and life moved on. 

Getting The Saree

Five years later, Vidya Balan had finished up her new biopic ‘Shakuntala Devi’, based on the life of the ‘human computer’, Shakuntala. For the e-promotions of the film, Vidya sourced a unique saree from Utkalamrita, a premium sari label run by Sabat Exports Pvt Ltd in Bhubaneswar. In keeping with the theme, she wanted one that was ‘mathematical’. 

What she got was a copy of Bhagabata’s design, though few knew about that at the time. An artisan had copied Bhagabata’s design and sold it to the label. 

The saree was a smash hit, and as is the case in such situations, several weavers came forward to claim the work as their own.  

However, Utkalamrita’s co-founder, Amrita Sabat confirmed to The Better India that the design was Bhagabata’s and took the initiative to connect the ingenious Shri Ganeet Saree with Vidya’s role. They made the connection thanks to Prafulla, who confirmed the design. 

Realising that credit was not being given to the original maker, Team Utkalamrita decided to e-Auction the same piece of saree as worn by Vidya Balan, which returned to them on 12 August, and all the proceeds (Rs 55,000) were given to Bhagabata. 

“It would have been very unethical on our part to take all the credit. These weavers tirelessly work to produce some of the finest sarees and sometimes they don’t even get the right price. The e-auction was also to highlight the plight of Bhagabata who has been severely affected due to the lockdown and showcase Odisha’s sarees. We were glad to help him,” Amrita tells The Better India. 

So there you have it. Bhagabata may not have won the award, but at least five years later he did get a decent payment for his work, and fame across India. So this tale of a dark saree has a silver lining after all.  

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Despite India’s toy-making enterprise dating back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, the global and national market slice of locally-made toys is dismal. Our country, with its USD 1.75 Billion market, imports the bulk of its toys from China and Taiwan.

In a world where superhero comics, movies and books afford licensing opportunities to toymakers to rake in millions of dollars, it casts a sad shadow on the Indian toy market scene. With parents turning more eco-friendly in their choices for their children and ‘Vocal for Local’ bid gaining steam in India, it is time that we work to revive and embrace the craftsmanship of indigenous and heritage toys of our country.

Though Karnataka’s Channapatna toys, with their Geographical Indication tag, are known far and wide, here is a list of other Indian toys that still echo the eras gone by and have the potential to charm the world.

1. Kondapalli Toys – Andhra Pradesh

Kondapalli is a town in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. The city has a 400-year-old toy-making tradition passed from generation to generation. These toys are made with the softwood from the Tella Poniki tree, which the skilled artisans craft into toys based on many themes, especially Indian mythology. 

Artisans paint the toys or figurines with soft and thin brushes dipped in water or oil colours. The toys showcase animals, life scenes, rural folks, gods and characters from epics. Soldiers, Ambari elephants, Dasavatar set and pen stands are some of the more popular items.

2. Thanjavur Dolls – Tamil Nadu

The iconic Thanjavur doll comes from the Thanjavur district, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The craft of the doll is an ancient skill where few or no tools are used to handcraft the figurines. The unique feature about the Thanjavur Doll is that it is a combination of roly-poly and bobblehead dolls. Bobblehead dolls have a head larger than the body, and when hit, roly-poly dolls bounce back and forth but come back into a standing position.

The craft of the Thanjavur Doll or as it is called in Tamil — Thanjavur thalayatti bommai (Thanjavur head-shaking doll) dates to the early 19th century Kingdom of King Saboji. The heritage doll is traditionally made with terracotta and cast as a pair of king and queen in a doll-like semblance which symbolises the dynasties that ruled Thanjavur. The dolls are also made with wood pulp, plaster of Paris, marble, alabaster, and papier-mache.

Artisans use clay from the banks of Cauvery River near which Thanjavur is settled. 

3. The Wooden Toys of Varanasi – Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi and Mirzapur are renowned for their wooden toys whose designs are made with the natural veins of the wood. Made without any joints, the beautiful toys are an ancient craft and are cast in shapes of animals, birds, musicians and dancers. 

Using knives, chisels and hammers, the artisans cut, peel and shape shisham or eucalyptus wood to create these toys which can be spherical, and cylindrical or the more traditional and religious articles, vermillion cases, or deities. These intricately carved toys are primarily made to catch the eyes of the pilgrims and foreigners.

4. Asharikandi Terracotta toys – Assam

The traditional toys in Assam are made with clay, bamboo, pith, cloth and mud in the figures of brides and grooms, animals, birds and deities. But one of the most famous dolls found in the region is from Asharikandi.  

Located 2,500 km east of the ancient city of Harappa lies the village of Asharikandi in Assam’s Dhubri district. It’s nearness, and the consequent influence of the prehistoric Indus Valley Civilisation site is evinced in the heritage craft of terracotta toys. 

More than 200 artisan families in the village are involved in this ancient craft keeping the tradition alive. The Hatima Putul, literally a mother with elephant-like ears with a baby on her lap, is one of the most distinctive creative features of Asharikandi. In the early 1970s, Nilima Baruah, the sister of filmmaker Pramthesh Baruah christened the doll as Hatima Putul. The name sprung from watching the elephant-like ears of the mother.

5. Natungram Dolls – West Bengal

Natungram, a quaint village in the district of Burdwan which is about four hours’ drive from Kolkata, is one of the few areas in southern West Bengal where the age-old tradition of doll making has been retained to an extent.

Crafted from a piece of wood chiselled to the requisite length, the doll gets the face and its attire painted on it and preserves a rustic beauty. The Gour-Nitai dolls are one of the distinct types of these dolls which came from the wave of Bhakti movement in Bengal in the 15 and 16th century. These dolls were a pair of male figures with hands outstretched over their heads representing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Gour) and his disciple Nityananda. Another famous doll is the small soldier figurines which were the influence of the royal kingdom of Burdwan. 

Initially, the artisans strictly used conventional colours like red, green and yellow but recently with the popularity of these dolls as room décor overshadowing their religious appeal, artists have been able to branch out from these conventions and use their palette liberally. Apart from these traditional standalone dolls, the artisans now incorporate these traditional dolls into furniture pieces. 

6. Dolls of Vilachery – Tamil Nadu

For more than eight decades, the Vilachery doll makers have been carrying forward the legacy of their families of clay and paper mache golu dolls for the Navratri season. Around 300 families line up their homes with golu dolls of various shapes and sizes. The skilled craftsmen mould the dolls as gods, goddesses, and characters from epics, folk tales and mythology. They are then sun-dried. The artisans then paint them with two coats of bright colours and can complete a doll in three to five days.

The golu dolls are of sentimental value to the people who buy them and are cherished for their aesthetics.

There is no denying the fact that toys and games can potentially improve cognition, creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills among children and even adults. Additionally, there has been an increase in demand for eco-friendly toys in India in recent times. 

If we look at the indigenous toys from each region of India, we realise that they are not only made with eco-friendly materials (clay, cloth, wood and palm leaf, among others) but also are aesthetically pleasing and can fire the childish imagination and creativity.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

In Bihar’s Jamui district there is a unique public playground under construction. From benches and chairs to swings, slides, and even dustbins around the playground will be made of Bamboo – thanks to Ananda Mohanta, an Odisha-based artisan.

“The work started early in March with eight people but slowed down owing to the lockdown. Using five trucks of bamboo we have completed most of the construction. But it will take another year to complete the project,” says Ananda Mohanta. He also adds that there are bamboo cottage-like structures placed around the park where visitors can take shelter and rest.

But it is not just park utilities that Ananda builds, he can replicate 40 different household objects such as sofa sets, arm chairs, pen stands, and more with bamboo.

About the artisan

After completing his education at the Government Inter College in Odisha, Ananda Mohanta, a resident of Betnoti town of Mayurbhanj district, started working as a Sal leaf trader with another farm in his village. He would collect these leaves and distribute them across various cities to make plates and cups.

In 2008, he took up a course on Bamboo crafts organised by the National Bamboo Mission in Dehradun.

“It was a three-week course free of cost, but after attending it I wanted to learn more. So I paid extra and stayed back for a three-month course to learn more about how to make crafts from Bamboo. Once I was confident with my skills, I returned to my village and continued practising the craft with bamboo I sourced locally. I would make pen stands, decorative flowers, and try to replicate all household products using bamboo. After a few months of practise, In 2009, I purchased 10 acres of land from the government to start growing bamboo. Owing to the geographical location, Bamboo grows very well,” says Ananda adding that he applied for loans and sourced necessary machines for cutting the bamboo, and treating it.

For new ideas, Ananda would look around his home and identify products made from plastic or any other material. Keeping that item as his subject, he would try to replicate the same using bamboo.

His projects

He started by selling simple household items such as bowls, pen stands and water bottles but soon started to make sofa sets, doors, windows, cottages, and 40 different products. The household items are sold across the country and he says that it takes only a few hours to make these. In one day Ananda can make a minimum of four baskets, cups, or buckets.

“I built a 100 sq ft cottage in Sambalpur, Odisha which is used as a guest house. It has an attached toilet and a verandah. It took me almost one and a half months, and 10 people to finish one cottage. The process involves procuring bamboo, cutting it, treating it using chloroplast, and boric acid. This ensures long-life and keeps the product bug-free. Many people assume bamboo structures are fragile, but they are very strong, and the cottages can carry 5 quintals or more of weight. Apart from that, owing to the presence of silicate acid, it has good fire resistance too.” says Ananda adding that his monthly turnover is over Rs.70,000/month.

While his farm is taken care of by 95 employees working full-time and part-time. Ananda also offers training for people in the village who wish to learn the craft. 30 of his employees are women who were trained as part of the Self Help Group called Maa Manasi started by his wife.

One project the artisan is proud of, till date, is the sit-out he made at Utkal University in Bhubaneswar.

“Outside the MBA department’s building, there is a cottage-like structure where students gather to eat food, chit-chat and sometimes discuss their studies. It has simple benches inside, and is an open structure for air ventilation.”

Braja Narayana Mohanty who is the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Manipur is passionate about bringing bamboo products to the forefront of India. He had recently tweeted images of Ananda’s work to help him get recognised.

He says, “I have worked with many artisans in North Eastern states to industrialise bamboo products, and a few months ago I came across Ananda. When I heard about the work he was doing, it was really interesting, and the products were eye-catching. I hope people recognise such artisans, give them the platform they deserve and promote their products.”

For the future, Ananda plans to increase his bamboo production, and produce bamboo plywood that can be used to make shelves and cupboards.

Apart from water bottles and brooms made from bamboo, you can eliminate the use of plastic products at home, by purchasing mugs, buckets, mats, wall-hangings, arm chairs, sofa sets, and 40 different items made from Bamboo. Ananda says he can transport the items across the country and that the prices are different for each.

You can get in touch with him on +91 8018175937, if you wish to order.

(Edited by Sandhya Menon)

“I was buried alive for nearly seven hours before my mother and aunt dug my grave and pulled me out after hearing my incessant cries. I do not know if it was the grass covering the soil that helped me breathe or simply a fighting spirit that gave a less-than-one-day-old baby from Ajmer’s Kotda village the strength. But I refused to give up on myself,” says Gulabo Sapera, who bloomed in the patriarchal landscape of Rajasthan and went on to create history in more ways than one. 

Years later, this girl with an indomitable spirit was featured in a magazine; but her name was misspelt and, since then, to the world, she came to be known as Gulabo – the sensational Sapera (or Kalbelia) dancer from Pushkar who could bend in unimaginable ways.

When she turned one, Gulabo, originally named Dhanvati, fell seriously ill and the doctors almost gave up on her, but once again she fought hard to live. A rose was placed next to her in the clinic, and seeing the flower as a sign of goodwill, her father changed her name to Gulabi. 

In 2016, Gulabo was bestowed with India’s fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri for her outstanding contribution in enhancing India’s folk dance culture. Apart from this prestigious award, recognitions and accolades have poured in ever since her first public performance in Pushkar Mela at 10.   

“I still remember people clapping in appreciation and astonishment after seeing my first performance. I failed to understand why they gathered around, took a few minutes out of their lives to see me but I felt very special. For the first time, I was not judged for belonging to a lower caste or being a girl. Dance gave me a fresh identity,” she recalls. 

From running a dance school in Denmark to expand her legacy internationally, imparting free lessons to girls from rural areas of Rajasthan to soon opening a dance school in Ajmer, Gulabo is going all guns blazing to preserve her dance form. 

She takes her passion to grow as a dancer and welcome new developments very seriously. No wonder that, even at 49, she learnt video calling to launch online dance classes. The money she earns is used to support sapera dancers who are out of work due to the pandemic. 

Gulabo’s life story is straight out of a film with many highs and lows, and it is her attitude of making the world a better place through her art that is the hero, or rather heroine. 

Of Snakes And Dancing

Gulabo’s father was out of the station when she was born. Upon his return, he learnt about the unfortunate incident that was a result of female infanticide, a practice that was prevalent in many parts of Rajasthan a few decades ago. 

He called them out for their inhuman treatment of a newborn. Furious with the man’s fight for equality, the village heads ostracized the family. 

Her father was a sapera or snake charmer who would go around the village with a basket of snakes to put up performances that would typically include hypnotizing snakes with an instrument called a pungi, juggling and other such acts. 

When Gulabo was barely six months old, her father started taking her on his performances. She would effortlessly tap to the tunes of pungi alongside the snakes and would copy their movements. From them, she learnt twirls and flexibility that later became the base of her brand of sapera dance. 

Here’s her journey from dancing with snakes to being spotted by Tripti Pandey and Himmat Singh, who worked with the Rajasthan Tourism Department at Pushkar Mela. 

Of Abuse and Applause

In the early 80s, Gulabo began a new phase of life after moving to Jaipur, one of India’s busiest cultural hubs, where people were less conservative. She became a part of the state’s cultural and tourism department. 

She started working on polishing her dancing skills here. She created her costume of the flowing black ghagra-choli and dupatta with decorative laces. The mirror work on the lehenga helps attract the attention of the audience. 

To ensure that people find this dance easy, she stuck to no rules. 

“It is a freestyle dance that heavily depends on fluid body gestures. From snakes, I learnt how to form a U-shape with the body, hip moves and swirls. It is mainly performed on the beats of the dafli, manjeera, dholak and chang (types of percussion instruments). There are no prerequisites to this dance. All you need is passion,” she says.  

Over the years, she mastered her craft and participated in various functions organised by the government and even got an opportunity to be a part of the government’s contingent travelling to Washington D.C. for a show in 1985. 

When she returned, most of the regional newspapers had covered the story of a sapera’s daughter making India proud in ‘Amrika’. 

The same people who once humiliated her now welcomed her with open arms, “Women from our sapera community in Jaipur visited my house and insisted that I teach their daughters this dance. I was also flooded with calls from my native village, and people told me how proud they were. I could not believe that my art form was gradually eliminating the differences,” she recalls.

Performing on the international stage was the turning point of Gulabo’s life and there has been no looking back since. 

She has a humongous fan following across the world. One such fan is Jyoti Tomar, who won a National Award for choreographing Padmavat’s song, Ghoomar in 2019. 

“I was mesmerized to see the flexibility and the attitude with which Gulabo danced. Her circles, rhythmic tapping, and costume were very unique. The graceful body movements and her backward arch were unbelievable. Just like snakes, Gulado does the swinging, flexibility and hypnotizing circles. While I speak I have visuals in my head of her dancing with her charming smile,” Jyoti tells The Better India. 

Overcoming Challenges

While there was glamour and appreciation, the journey has not been without its share of challenges. Even after being a part of so many shows, there are days when Gulabo and artisans like her are out of work. 

“As artisans, we do get a lot of respect but we also need money to survive and this is something that the government needs to take care of,” she says. 

Jyoti agrees with Gulabo and also highlights the dire need to preserve this art form. 

“Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had started with zonal cultural centres, but very little is reaching to the deserving. With recorded music, TV, films and so many other available options, we are losing on our cultural heritage. The government must do something more constructive. We, as citizens, must respect our culture and should start showing interest in these art forms. I run my academy, Rajmata where we invite only authentic folk artists from Rajasthan to conduct workshops,” she adds. 

Gulabo also talks about how the lockdown has further created problems for artisans, “We have received minimal ration from the government but one dancer has to share it with a family of four or five, which is not enough. No solution that can create an alternate livelihood has been implemented. Dancers like me have the internet so we are managing but what about those who don’t?” 

Despite such difficulties, Gulabo has managed to stay true to her art while creating her path and carrying forward the legacy. She credits her family members who have stood by her at all times. 

“In the initial days, my husband, Sohanath (a city-based classical singer and harmonium player) would visit gymkhanas, offices of private organisers and event management companies as my agent. His enthusiasm and respect for my work have played an instrumental role in raising awareness about this dance. My children have also learnt this dance and are now teaching others. Finally, I owe everything to my parents who believed I was born to do great things,” says Gulabo. 

Whether it was turning abuse into applause, becoming the president of a caste association that once ostracized her for being a girl or putting the sapera dance on the world map, this legendary woman’s journey is exceptional.

Get in touch with Gulabo Sapera here

Edited by Sandhya Menon

“When I joined the circus as a clown 20 years ago, showmanship was at its peak and thousands would line up to see us dancers, stuntmen, clowns, acrobats, and trapeze artists.

But things changed. And somewhere, between the advent of satellite TV and televisions sets to streaming platforms, our profession died a slow death. The working conditions went from bad to worse. Children have kicked me in my stomach, slapped me and audiences have made faces that scream boredom.

I remember how circus artists would take pride and look forward to making their children carry forward the legacy but now, it’s the opposite. In fact, I too, ensured that my children were educated in good schools, and encouraged to join other professions. 

But amidst all the problems, I have never let my smile and enthusiasm disappear. The joy of putting up a funny act and making someone’s day keeps me going and as a unit, we always manage to come up with survival strategies. 

But then the lockdown happened, and everything changed. In the last six months, we have not done a single show and have been endlessly waiting for the pandemic to subside so that we can earn again.

The situation is so bad that a majority of circus companies have pulled down the curtains and artists have returned to their homes. Many of our shows have been cancelled and our investments (some of which are worth lakhs) have gone down the drain. 

So, when Sujit Dilip, the owner of Rambo Circus, discussed the idea of bringing a digital revolution to the circus with me in April, it felt like a tiny ray of hope in these dark times. Maybe, we could revive India’s oldest form of entertainment, using the very tool (OTT platforms) that had played a role in our downfall.

Initially, I had my apprehensions. I wondered if my performance would be affected without whistles and claps of a live audience but then it was my last shot at saving what I love doing the most – making people laugh.

I started practising my act ten days prior to the show (which was shot last month) and for the first time, I was experiencing excitement and nervousness together. When the camera started rolling, I got shivers down my spine.

We are also entertainers, and even though we rarely, if ever, receive awards for what we do, we continue to put in our best efforts. Our livelihood completely depends on the audience and today we need you more than ever. Whatever we earn through this programme, will be used to feed our families. We have put in everything for this show but only with your help can we revive the circus.” 

– Biju Nair, Principal Clown at Rambo Circus

What’s Does This Circus Have in Store for You?

IT professional Aditya Shah from Bengaluru and Suganthan Asokan, a digital marketing professional from Mumbai are the brains behind the concept. 

Aditya’s tryst with circus dates back to 80 years ago when his grandfather was a prominent circus organiser. So, he wanted to save the most cherished memory of his childhood when he learnt about the plight. He approached Suganthan and the duo started developing the idea. 

“The first-ever digital circus of India is going to be the highlight of every Indian kid’s childhood. The digital circus idea is to draw people towards the age-old tradition and heritage. The USP of the circus is going to be daring trapeze acts to mesmerizing acrobatic stunts, it will be a fun and laughter-filled show with a high emotional quotient,” Aditya tells The Better India. 

Suganthan says that there are so many unexplored stories of how the circuses gave a stiff competition to the movie industry in its heyday and hence it is important to remind everyone of its value. “Re-packaging of the circus is required for the newer generation through the use of digital mediums- which includes virtual events, content partnerships on OTT etc..” 

With 30 artists and a professional camera crew, the programme was filmed over two days in Airoli with all safety precautions. 

Called ‘Life is A Circus’, the show promises ‘clean fun and complete family enjoyment’. It will go live on 25 September onwards. 

“We have tried to accommodate the best acts within the 1-hour duration of the show. The performances will be hosted by renowned television and film actor. Vipul Roy. With talented people working both in front of the camera and behind the scenes on the project we hope that this show will be a catalyst for better times especially for the artists; it is a genuine attempt by everyone involved to help them overcome the social and economic challenges,” adds Suganthan.

Would you like to play a part in keeping the circus alive? Book your tickets here. 

Get in touch with Rambo Circus here

Edited by Gayatri Mishra

There’s a certain amount of life that goes into any painting. It could be inspiration from nature or just plain experiences from day to day life. But most of the time, it is this tiny aspect that trademarks an artist’s work.

For 40-year-old mural and portrait artist Firos Assan hailing from Kozhikode, Kerala, it was the hardship he faced during the journey towards becoming an artist that brought out the ‘life’ in his paintings.

His indomitable spirit to create amazing pieces of artwork over the years has earned him international recognition from famous personalities across the world including artist MF Husain, former president APJ Abdul Kalam, footballer Christiano Ronaldo, cricketers MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag.JK Mahindra and the list goes on.

Recently Firos was also selected by the Kerala state government to paint a 69 metre long mural for the Kannur International Airport which he completed in just 23 days.

This ambition is no doubt shaped by his determination to take on life’s challenges to realise his dreams. Firos’ journey over the years has been anything but smooth. From being a candy vendor along the beaches of the Kozhikode beach at the age of 10 to taking on several other odd jobs as a teenager, the lows in his life have strengthened his resolve to scale new peaks of excellence.

Becoming A Professional Artist At Age 10

“Ever since my childhood, I had an interest in art. I would constantly draw sketches in school and at home and that’s when my father who was an artist in his own right, decided to enrol me at the Universal Arts centre in Kozhikode as an addition to my schooling,” Firos narrates.

I was just 10 at the time and the students at the arts centre were all aged between 25-30 years. I had no hopes of getting into the centre because they had a strict selection procedure where they would evaluate our previous works. But to my surprise, they were astounded by my work and gave me the admission immediately,” he adds.

However, his stint at Universal Arts was short-lived owing to certain financial constraints that the family faced at the time.

“ Although I was able to learn and get exposure to different art techniques and meet people who shared my passion, I was barely able to complete the course at the centre. But what I realised was that there was something so distinct about me that set me apart from the rest of the lot and that thought stayed with me,” Firos explains.

At age 15, Firos started selling candy after school along with his father at the Kozhikode beach as a means to meet the family’s financial needs.

“We would walk almost 14 km from Vadakara to Mahe, along the shores in order to sell candy Occasionally, I would come across some of my friends from school but that never bothered me because I was determined to not stay in that phase of life forever,” Firos says.

Meeting APJ Abdul Kalam

By 21, Firos had dropped out of pre-degree and decided to work with small advertising agencies to earn a livelihood and was engaged in commercial artwork.

“These agencies would be asked to make movie posters, campaign flyers and paint huge billboards. Although it was not what I wanted to do, I was able to bring a stable income to the household,” says Firos.

During his time at the ad agency, Firos had the opportunity to paint the portraits of all past Vice-Chancellors of the Calicut University. Impressed by his work, the Vice-Chancellor of the Calicut University gave him a VVIP pass to the graduation ceremony of the university which would be graced by then-president A P J Abdul Kalam.

“I had expressed my interest to the vice-chancellor to present the president with a portrait but never in my life would I have expected to receive a VVIP pass for the event. Only 7 people had received the VVIP pass, of which 6 were dignitaries who would be present on the stage and I was the 7th one,” Firos explains.

“I made a portrait of President Kalam and presented it to him at the event but I was truly overwhelmed when he embraced me and said he was truly impressed by my work. This was indeed a turning point in my life and I realised that my work could reach greater heights if I tried,” narrates Firos.

A few years later a senior sports editor from Mathrubhumi introduced him to former Kerala state cricket captain JK Mahindra who helped him get art assignments at the cricket stadiums in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

“I had the chance to display 30 of my paintings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium alone. My paintings won the admiration of cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virendra Sehwag which was a huge achievement for me,” he explains.

Nithin Mathew, a friend of Firos’ has been a constant support to him and has borne witness to the hardships he has gone through in his life.

“The one factor that makes Firos stand out from the rest is his resilience towards all the struggles he has had to face in life. This resilience reflects in his art as well. Throughout his life, he never waited for an opportunity to come knocking at his door and that is purely the reason behind his success,” he says.

Heading To The Middle East

“Despite receiving all this recognition, the opportunities I received as an artist were very low. It was during this time that I got married and I had to provide financial support for my family. So I decided to go to Saudi Arabia in 2006 in search of a more stable job,” Firos explains.

Despite having to work in a different country, Firos continued painting and even reached out to the king of Saudi Arabia, Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

“The king was absolutely fascinated by my work and encouraged me to set up exhibitions in the middle east. As a result, I was able to conduct one in Dubai where I had the opportunity to meet Christiano Ronaldo as well,” he explains.

But the biggest turning point for Firos was receiving an invite from MF Hussain in 2011 while he was in Saudi Arabia.

“He had heard about my paintings from the King and wanted to see me in person. So he invited me to London. I was absolutely thrilled at the opportunity but by the time I had made arrangements for the visit, he had passed away,” says Firos.

Painting a 69 Metre Long Mural

After returning from Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest projects Firos received was the mural painting in the Kannur International Airport Ltd (KIAL. Initially, KIAL had commissioned the work for a 15m space, to depict Kerala’s art forms. That work impressed the KIAL management so much that he was approached for murals to be crafted on another 69m space inside the airport.

“While I was extremely thrilled to get the additional work, the challenge for me was that it was a 6-month work to be completed in just 2 months, as that was all the time that was left before the airport inauguration in December 2018,” he says.

Firos had a few of his artist friends joining him for the project, and they worked tirelessly to paint the murals and were able to finish the work in just 23 days.

“Over the last two years, I have been able to set up my own company under the name Afsal’s Intrinsic Arts based in Kozhikode with almost 20 employees under me,” he says.

Firos is also aiming to take up international projects that will help create new avenues for promising artists in the country.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my life’s experience, it’s the fact that we have to constantly work towards our goal and create our own reality and soon you’ll begin to discover a sea of opportunities lined up before you,” Firos says.

The entrance to artist V K Munusamy’s house in Villianur, about seven kilometres from Puducherry city, looks like a scene straight out of an art film. And rightly so. After all, the Padma Shree awardee is known for making dramatic life-size terracotta statues and miniatures as small as 1.5 inches for over 40 years. 

As you walk further inside, the earthy fragrance from scattered terracotta pieces welcomes you. 

A couple of women artists are swiftly carving intricate patterns on what will be either a horse, a likeness of the Buddha, a toy, an elephant or a human-sized deity. Their eyes are pinned to the fast drying riverside clay, with a complete focus on the patterns. But they also chat about their day and some even help their children do their school homework. 

A little further away, Munusamy is crouching on the ground and working on a pottery wheel to make Ganapati idols, to meet orders from Karnataka. Though he is near the kilns, the heat does not appear to bother him. His skilled hands effortlessly shape cones of clay within minutes.

Mastering the craft over decades, the 53-year-old’s terracotta pieces come in all sizes. The price can range from as cheap as Rs 50 paise to Rs 4 Lakh, depending on the piece.

Munusamy is a 21st generation terracotta artist, who has earned global fame, six national awards, multiple state awards and an unofficial responsibility of preserving a dying art form. 

Unlike many artists who have discontinued terracotta production due to alternatives like sandstone or marble, Munusamy has willfully taken the hereditary charge to take forward his family’s legacy. His son, who is currently doing his undergraduate from Chitrakala Parishath in Bengaluru, will be a millennial entrant to the artform. 

Born to parents Krishan Pathar and Mangalaxmi in 1967, Munusamy was exposed to terracotta structures when he turned five.

“As a kid, I would hurriedly crawl towards the clay and imitate my father’s actions. Sometimes, when they took away clay, I would take paper and make small balls. Though a generational occupation, the craft did not come easy, I had to earn it. My father allowed me to use clay only after I had perfected the task of giving shapes to the dough. He was an earnest artist who treated his art with the utmost respect. I have inherited all the values and skills from him and I hope to pass it down to our future generations,” Munusamy, who bagged India fourth highest civilian award this year, tells The Better India.

A Sustainable Process Dipped In Ancient India 

 Generally, brown, grey, orange or red terracotta is made from clay sourced from the beds of water bodies. Once carved, this clay is dried and then fired under temperatures of around 1000°C. The final terracotta product is allowed to cool down slowly by covering it in the sand. 

Munusamy is extremely particular about choosing soil for the final product’s sturdiness and quality. 

He has tied up with landowners living close to riverfronts to purchase soil which he transports to his house on a bullock cart. Transporting soil on a modern vehicle is against the law, so this ancient form of transportation comes handy. 

Next, tonnes of soil are laid in sunlight for the drying process. Once the water is removed, the weight reduces by 50 per cent. Next, he mixes the soil with paddy straw, wood sawdust and animal dung for thickness, and to prevent any damage in the firing process. 

The mixture is carved into an artefact and kept untouched for a week. After which it goes in kilns for a few hours – depending on the size. A statue, for example, takes eight hours. After it is cooled down, the parts are coloured and painted.  

With one life-sized figure using two tonnes of clay, the entire process lasts anywhere between 12 hours to a month. Anatomy and nuance in every artefact is Munusamy’s USP. 

From bringing alive the late President APJ Abdul Kalam through an 8-foot statue to miniature idols, Munusamy may have lost the count of how many artefacts he has made, but he surely remembers the BTS of every project. 

He had a strong emotional connection with the former President. In 2014, Munusamy had made terracotta structures to raise funds of Uttarakhand floods in Dili Hat. Moved by the gesture and the breathtaking pieces, the President Kalam spoke to Munusamy for an hour. 

“He wanted to know everything about terracotta and how I was populating it from a small village of Tamil Nadu. The short conversation will be forever etched in my memory so when he passed away making his statue was the best way to pay him tribute,” he shares. 

A Thriving Legacy 

“Terracotta earthenware, equestrian figurines, and decorative items date back to the pre-Harappan civilisation. Archaeological excavations frequently unearth pots and vessels made from terracotta. Its rich history is vast and differs from region to region. Like for example, in Tamil Nadu, giant horses and elephants are made to guard temple entrances. Meanwhile, Alwar in Rajasthan is known for its paper-thin pottery (kagzi) and artisans in Bhuj make colourful clay pots with geometrical patterns. Haryana is known for its terracotta hookah and pipes,” says Munusamy. 

In Munusamy’s hamlet and most rural parts of Tamil Nadu, different deities and horses are made from terracotta. 

Munusamy found his calling very early on but he was always keen on completing his education. However, due to financial restraints in the family, he dropped out in class eight and joined his father to meet the demand. 

Since then, Munusamy has been in the profession and every day is an opportunity to improve his skills. 

Although the family was already known for making tall deities, especially during Pongal (Tamil New Year), the family struggled financially. For the longest time, his father refused to venture into other products as he believed his work to be sacred and reserved only for deities. 

After much convincing, Munusamy started making other items like vessels, toys, figurines, and miniatures to ensure a stable income during the 90s. He adapted to demands quickly. This was mainly done to increase the value of terracotta. 

Every artisan, he says, sources pure clay from the riverside and hand-makes every item after going through a tedious process. However, visitors and vendors from outside the region are quick to dismiss the art as just another mitti installation. 

“Disregard for man’s hard work and skills is the highest form of humiliation in every profession. I took the commercial route to educate people about our sincere efforts,” he says. 

When our economy opened up to the outside world, the country witnessed an influx of more accessible materials like marble, copper and other stones. Artisans switched sides and some walked out on this disappearing art. 

But not Munusamy. He had a legacy to continue. 

Times were tough and the wrath of inflation knocked on his door multiple times. There were days when he had to take a loan for his raw materials and to pay the salary of his staff. 

To make things better, he collaborated with the local government in the late 90s to promote his art. Munusamy attended his first international Exhibition in Barcelona, Spain in 2004. 

There has been no looking back since. 

He has visited 12 countries and attended several exhibitions and workshops to display his colourful artefacts.

Besides exhibitions, Munusamy also imparts terracotta training. 

“Munusamy actively takes training sessions in educational institutions and government-organised events. He is a very committed artist who has worked exceptionally hard to spread awareness. Our office has helped him take part in several international exhibitions,” an official from District Industries Centre, Puducherry tells The Better India. 

He also whole-heartedly welcomes foreigners and locals at his house to impart knowledge and skills. He has single handedly trained 800 families in his region to make terracotta items. 

The value for his artwork is also reflected in the way he treats the staff members. They are like a part of his extended family. Under his regime, artists are paid as per their skills. 

“Unlike stone carving, terracotta is not a one-time work. It takes hours to get the right patterns. Plus, the artefacts have a royal value. In future, my terracotta products may be considered antiques and priced at exorbitant rates. Thus, every artist deserves a hefty pay. Moulding can fetch Rs 15,000 per hour and basic patterns get Rs 1000 per hour.” 

When asked what is the one goal he hopes to achieve before dying, Munusamy says, “I want to make a masterpiece when I turn 100, just like my parents.”

Munusamy’s honesty, devotion and sincerity towards his craft that he has honed for four decades is laudable and will be remembered for generations to come. 

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

An entire cupboard in my thatha’s (grandfather) house in Mumbai was filled with a treasure – books. While there were all kinds of books in it, my personal favourite were the Chandamama series.

If you have had the chance to ever read one, the image of Vikram and Vetala is sure to be etched in your mind.

On 29 September, Karatholuvu Chandrasekaran Sivasankaran, the artist popularly known as ‘Chandamama’ Sankar, who created the iconic series, passed away at the age of ninety-seven in Chennai.

Born in 1927 in a village in Erode in Tamil Nadu, Sankar along with his mother and brother moved to Chennai in 1934. It was during this period that his talent for drawing was discovered, by his school teacher who noticed his sketches.

Subsequently, after completing his school education, Sivasankar enrolled in the Government Arts College in Chennai and underwent training for five years. In 1946, immediately after he graduated from college he was offered a position at a Tamil magazine called Kalai Magal.

Six years later, in 1952 Nagi Reddi, a filmmaker, who along with Chakrapani had launched Chandamama as a Telugu periodical magazine for children, hired him as an in-house artist. From then on, there was no looking back. His sketches in the book were a visual treat, and with its popularity catching on, the magazine was published in 13 regional languages.

The magazine had a cult-like status among its young readers. For those who grew up in the seventies and eighties, no train journey was complete without a Chandamama comic for company.

Sankar worked at the magazine for almost six decades and called it a day in 2012 when the magazine decided to shut shop because of financial problems.

While Sankar led a very modest life, what made him feel extremely rich were the memories that he helped children create for themselves. One story mentioned in The Hindu is of how a young shepherd in Odisha preserved his hard-earned copy of Chandamama by rolling it up and inserting it into the hollow of bamboo stick, hoping to someday draw like Sankar.

While messages of tribute have been pouring in from all across the country, Sapna Khajuria, a lawyer based in Gurugram who happens to be one amongst the many who enjoyed the comics growing up says, “My brother and I would fight over who got to read the latest issue first. Since our father’s posting was often in remote stations, we wouldn’t manage to get our hands on the latest edition on time. Later, there would be a re-enactment of the Vikram and Vetala story (with us 4-foot tall kids floating in our mum’s kurtas and holding a sword we crafted out of cardboard).”

“My parents got our Chandamama collection bound together in various sets, which is at their home, now to be treasured.”

Sankar’s illustration helped bring to life the various stories and folklores for children and ignited in them a questioning and critical thinking mind. The colours he used in his sketches were so vivid and made everything seem real.

Thank you for leaving us with so many memories to look back at with so much fondness.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Is it a high-resolution photo? Is it a painting? No, it is a sprawling rangoli illustrating Veerbhadra, a folk dance popular in Karnataka.

The monochrome 4×6 ft rangoli of an artist with emotionally charged expressions was created after 18 hours of rigorous work and patience.

The giant moustache, bushy eyebrows, questioning eyes, and creased forehead are detailed to perfection. The artist has used black and white-coloured marble dust to create the monochrome look of the rangoli. It was made in an enclosed area during the National Youth Festival in Raipur in 2016.

The talented artist behind the exquisite rangoli is Raipur’s Pramod Sahu, who is internationally known for his hyper-realistic and 3D artworks. Each artwork fetches him anywhere between Rs 10,000 and 1,50,000.

“The intense expressions on the face of the artist struck a chord with me and motivated me to try something creative and thus began my tryst with hyper-realistic rangolis,” Pramod tells The Better India.

Pramod has been in the rangoli-making industry for 15 odd years and so far he has made over 500 commercial rangolis across India. It takes anywhere between 2-50 hours to complete one piece and it demands utmost focus. The artwork is such that If one colour runs into another, the artist has to start all over again.

“I feel one with the divine every time I sprinkle the powder on the floor. My work gives me positive energy that helps me release my creativity,” says the 29-year-old.

Pramod can make rangolis on any surface. However, he prefers the MDF (Medium-density fibreboard) and plywood placed on the floor, “If there is too much sunlight then the colour changes. The floor has to be dust, wind and insect-free.”

While rangoli remains a significant part of Indian households, Pramod still has to constantly innovate if he has to stand out. He is a pioneering artist who introduced 3D and hyper-realism in something as basic as rangoli. He uses social issues like plastic waste, women empowerment, dowry, and so on to generate awareness via rangoli.

His stunning artworks have bagged him several accolades and awards including the All India Platinum Award and Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Rashtra Nirmaan Puruskar in 2018.

How It All Started

Pramod discovered his passion to draw and design by hand using the powder of white stone or lime when he was merely four years old.

Fascinated by the colourful powders and intricate patterns of rangoli, the young Pramod would often imitate his mother or sisters. During one festival, his sister dared him to complete a rangoli that she was finding frustrating.

“That was exactly the kind of opportunity I was looking for. She was annoyed, but I was so excited to make the rangoli. The results surprised my mother and that’s how for every occasion I became the rangoli maker of the house,” recalls Pramod.

The household stint eventually expanded to the neighbourhood and by the time he turned 12, people started inviting him to make rangolis in their homes for Rs 5 each.

Generally, rangolis are done by the women in the house. Naturally, Pramod faced gender stereotyping and he was often mocked by his classmates for doing a ‘feminine’ job.

He did not let that deter him. Squatting on the floor and silently working for hours together to make deities, flowers, animals, auspicious symbols, and abstract designs gave him peace.

Given the financial limitations of making a living from art, Pramod worked harder and even started conducting drawing classes to financially contribute to his family between 2005 and 2010.

After completing his MA in Linguistics in 2013, Pramod continued to pursue rangoli-making and started participating in art events. After the initial financial struggle, money started flowing in after people noticed his incredible talent.

Today, along with making commercial rangolis, Pramod also runs Chhaapak, an art institute in Raipur that provides a full scholarship to 8-10 children every year. Since its inception in 2014, the academy has enrolled more than 400 students. His teaching is not limited to the academy, as Pramod also takes workshops in the city.

“The art school is to provide a platform to those who want to unleash their creative side in a way that will also help them earn in the future. I sincerely believe commercial viability is an integral part of any art. So, apart from strengthening their basics and then providing them with advanced courses, we also guide them towards lucrative careers,” Pramod adds.

Arjun Nag, a student-turned-art instructor is one such person, “As a team member I often get to attend exhibitions and interact with renowned artists. I don’t think I would get this kind of exposure in a conventional art school,” he says.

Here’s a look at Pramod’s incredible artworks:

Get in touch with Pramod Sahu here 

Edited by Nishi Malholtra

Bijiyashanti Tongbram (27), lives in a small village named Thanga Tongbram located in the Bishnupur district of Manipur. A few kilometres from her home is Loktak lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in the Northeast region. This lake is famous for its numerous small islands known as phumdis and the thousands of lotuses blooming in it.

In this region, the lotuses are used as offerings to the gods and also for decorative purposes, but Bijiyashanti has learnt the technique of extracting fibre that is soft as silk from the lotuses’ stems and making thread from it. These threads can be used to knit scarves, stitch ties, and make masks. There are only a few places in the world where this kind of work is done – in Myanmar and in Cambodia.

Since learning the technique to extract the fibre and spin the thread, Bijiyashanti has opened her own enterprise named ‘Sanajing Sana Thambal’ and decided to teach this method to other women in her village.

What inspired her?

In 2014, after completing her Honours degree in Botany from GP Women’s College, Imphal, Bijiyashanti was wondering about what she could do. She could not find a job that she was passionate about and spent the following years trying to come up with a business plan where she could earn and provide employment to others.

In 2018, she attended a programme on ‘How to become an entrepreneur’ at the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME Centre) in Manipur.

“It was during this 10-day course that I learnt about how to set up a business, and the process of marketing. Once I finished the course I thought about what I was passionate about and I realised that it was lotus flowers because they grow widely in my area. I have always been fascinated with their medicinal properties and started to research on the internet about what I can do with lotuses. That is when I stumbled upon three interesting ideas. One was to make tea using the lotus flowers, the other was to start a lotus garden of my own with varieties from across the world, and finally to extract thread from the stems and make clothes,” says Bijiyashanti, adding that she started with the last option as it seemed most challenging.

She spent the next few months watching videos online and reading about the method of collecting the lotus stems, cleaning them, and extracting fibre.

The process of extracting fibre

The lotuses are usually collected from the lake by the locals to sell at temples and flower markets. But before they are taken to the market the stems are cut and a significant portion of the stems just thrown away.

“I started gathering some of these stems that are thrown away. They have to be soaked in water for three days. This helps the stems produce a sticky substance inside which is the fibre,” says Bijiyashanti.

To extract the fibre, the stem is broken a few inches from one end and split open. Bijiyashanti says that when you split the stem, the gum-like fibre is produced. This is then spread onto a wooden table that is wet and rolled by hand to form one strand of thread usually 40cm long.

She says that initially, it was very challenging to roll the fibre because it is so fine. But slowly, with practice, she got better at it. The thread is allowed to dry under the sun for a few days. Then, it can be used to make fabrics, either on a spinning wheel or loom.

“It is a time-consuming process. I used a thousand stems or more, and it took me over one month to produce enough thread to make one scarf. The spun thread is made into scarves by weaving on a traditional loom and the ties are knitted by hand,” explains Bijiyashanti. For colour, Bijiyashanti added organic dyes.

Providing employment

To start producing garments at a faster pace, she thought about teaching the method to other women in her area, and employing the local community.

“In 2019, when I spread the word around my village, seven women joined me and I taught them how to extract the fibre and do the weaving. Then, the word spread to other nearby villages and a total of 15 women were trained. Their ages range from 22 to 50. By January 2020, I trained 40 people and 20 of them continue to make the thread. 7 of them work from my home-unit and the others have their wooden tables and spinning wheels to extract the fibre. I buy back the fibre from them and stitch neckties, scarves and also plan to make face masks. To make the garments we use a traditional bamboo-based loom.”

Ayingbi is a 50-year-old weaver who joined Bijiyashanti’s enterprise in 2019. She says that this time-consuming handicraft has kept her occupied throughout the lockdown.

“Initially, I did not know that thread can be extracted from lotus stems but now I have been doing it for one year. I have a wooden table and spinning wheel in my home so I can extract fibre and spin the thread. The finished product is as good as silk, and it can be woven using a traditional loom because the thread is very delicate,” she says.

Bijiyashanti hopes to soon open an online store with the products she is now beginning to make and sell, and even export her products by February 2021.

15-year-old Sonali Majumdar and 20-year-old Maraju Sumanth from Kolkata recently showcased their killer dancing in the reality show ‘America’s Got Talent’. They astounded the judges and won the hearts of the audience with their ‘Bad’ Salsa.

During the show, Sonali revealed that her father grows rice, banana, and some vegetables. Though the family struggles to make ends meet, they supported Sonali’s dreams to become a dancer.

In an interview with The Better India, she says, “I started when I was only three. I would often dance on the stage at melas and the events in my village. Everyone would appreciate me and tell my father that he should encourage me to dance.”

After Bivash Chowdary, who runs the Bivash Academy of Dance (BAD) in Kolkata, spotted her talent, Sonali received professional training and went on to become a star.

According to a news article, the duo reached the finale of AGT Season 15 but lost. They performed to the Bollywood song Bachna Ae Haseeno and teamed up with the group ‘V Unbeatable’.

In 2009, internationally acclaimed miniature painting artist and Padma Shri awardee, Vijay Sharma (58), completed 30 years as an artist. 

Despite having earned fame by making thousands of Pahari-style miniature paintings, some of which had travelled to Europe and the United States, Vijay felt as excited and nervous as a schoolboy at the prospect of meeting his idol and favourite lyricist, Gulzar. The Himachal Pradesh government had asked Vijay to make a miniature painting especially to honour Gulzar during a conference in the state. 

Being an ardent fan of Hindi cinema, Vijay digressed from his usual art themes involving mythological figures and made a masterpiece based on Gulzar’s first poem for Hindi cinema, Mora Gora Ang Lay Le from the movie Bandini. 

As per the lyrics, he coloured Radha blue and Krishna white (typically it is Krishna’s face that is blue). Gulzar was so delighted with the Pahari-style painting that he gifted Vijay a signed copy of his book ‘100 Lyrics’ and invited him to his home in Mumbai. 

“He was impressed with my style of translating his poem into a painting and, as promised, a year later I had lunch with Gulzar ji in his Bandra house. He even graced us with his presence at my exhibition in the city. That is the most cherished honour that I have ever received because of my artwork,” says Vijay, who lives in Chamba, to The Better India. 

If Vijay, in his silver years, still gets nervous when making his next painting, it is because he knows an artist can never stop learning. He treats every new painting as his first and believes that he is still hungry for perfection like a young man would be.

It is probably these virtues of humility and a child-like desire to learn new things that bagged this natural pool of talent India’s fourth highest civilian award in 2012. 

Vijay is credited for not only preserving the 300-year-old art of Pahari-style miniature paintings that were on the verge of extinction but also passing down this knowledge to the younger generation. Vijay runs Shilpa Parishad, an NGO, to promote this genre of miniature painting.

Pahari miniature paintings date back to the 17th century when the Guler court kings hired professionals to illustrate the beauty of the Himalayan foothills. The painters took inspiration from themes related to Indian myths and poems and created artwork against the backdrop of the hilly regions on mini canvases of less than 25 square inches each.

Guler riyasat was in the Kangra valley and under Raja Sansar Chand, miniature paintings flourished. Under his rule, artists translated Jaydeva’s Sanskrit love poem, the ‘Gita Govinda’, ‘Bihari’s Sat Sai’, ‘Bhagawat Purana’ and the romantic tale of Nala and Damyanti into paintings. 

Humble Beginnings

Vijay came from a modest background. His father worked as a bus driver with the Himachal Road Transport Corporation. Vijay’s love for art was sparked during a visit to the Bhuri Singh Museum in Chamba when he was just 13 years old. 

He saw miniature paintings made by local artists for the first time and was completely mesmerised by their work. He couldn’t believe that the paintings with such detailing were made from horse hair or bird feathers. 

However, the fact that many of these artists had discontinued making miniature paintings and switched to carpentry work was more surprising to him. It compelled him to research the art form and that’s how he entered this world of paintings that often need a magnifying lens to be appreciated for their details and colours. 

“After independence when the kings were absorbed of their powers, artists couldn’t find an alternative way to sell the paintings. The government also did not do much to promote miniature paintings. Thus, the painters ended with carpentry work as they already possessed the required skills,” says Vijay. 

He learnt that there were different schools of Pahari paintings — Basohli, Guler, Kangra, Chamba, and Mandi schools.

“They are similar to the Rajasthani style, as themes are usually centred around love and grief. Before paper was invented, the paintings were done on palm leaves. Sheets of paper are combined to make the base thick and all the colours are sourced naturally,” Vijay explains. 

For example, sindoor (a traditional vermilion powder) is used for red, black is extracted from the black deposits of a diya, and white is created by shredding stones. Interestingly, poison extracted from poisonous plants is applied to prevent the paintings from decaying. 

Unleashing his Passion for Painting  

Since Vijay’s father did not have the avenues to nurture his son’s passion or talent, Vijay learnt on his own initially. He honed the technique of compressing images without compromising on details by accompanying his father on bus rides; he would draw the landscapes, people, scenery, and everything else he saw on small pieces of paper.

“My parents liked my drawings and soon I became the boy who could copy any image, landscape, portrait, and painting in the neighbourhood. A few years later, I started visiting local families to learn two styles of Pahari painting – Kangra and Basohli,” says Vijay. 

Everything was sailing smoothly till it came time to turn his passion into a profession. 

“The usual concerns about earning a stable livelihood erupted. Plus, no one in my family was an artist so I had no one to hold my hand or mentor me in this field. It was just me and my skills in the beginning,” says Vijay.

He realised miniature paintings have a flourishing market in Rajasthan and Bihar because those states draw many more tourists from India and abroad compared to his hometown of Chamba in Himachal Pradesh.  

So, with the help of a curator at Chamba Museum, he visited Varanasi and Jaipur in the 1980s.

“I visited the Bharat Kala Bhawan in Varanasi and a family in Jaipur to learn the basics. Learning from traditional scholars was way better than attending a formal school. From here I learnt how the guru-shishya (teacher-student) relationship helps nurture young talent, as even today there is no dedicated course on miniature paintings,” he says. 

It was around this time that Vijay started working with the Himachal Pradesh State Transport Department to draw routes on map and paint buses. Two years later, he quit the job and joined the Art and Culture Department of Himachal Pradesh (HP) where he worked as a painting tutor for a few years.

As time passed, his passion and focus towards painting deepened so much that he took an oath that he would have his meal only after completing one sketch daily. 

He also learnt Hindustani classical music for ten years to decode ragas (compositions) and the emotions behind them. Once he understood the different bhaavs (emotions), he started capturing the emotions of nayak-nayika (hero-heroine) from mythology and poems in his paintings.  

Accolades and Accomplishments

In the early 1990s, Vijay became an active participant in exhibitions and competitions organised by the HP government. His talent was recognised gradually as he became a part of an art delegation representing first his state and then the country. 

In 1995, Vijay made his first international trip as part of the Indian delegation to Singapore for an exhibition. There, he also bagged one of his firsts major projects. 

“A person wanted me to draw his influential friend with two wives. It took me almost a month to do this job. I earned 1000 USD and interestingly that happens to be one of my costliest paintings,” he recalls. 

Things changed dramatically after that trip as regional papers in India covered the Chamba boy who had made the entire state of Himachal Pradesh proud. In 1997, the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society awarded him their annual AIFACS Award and a decade later he was honoured with the Kalidas Samman. 

Having established his identity in the art community, Vijay has several admirers around the world. 

Vinit Vyas from Mumbai, a fine arts history graduate who researches on early modern visual and material culture of South Asia, is in awe of Vijay’s Basohli style. 

“Vijayji’s keen eye in examining older Pahari paintings is discernible in his practice. Through his vibrant colour palette, swift lines, and astute inclusion of specific Pahari elements, he amazingly weaves older themes with newer compositions. One of my favourite paintings by him is the composition of Radha and Krishna romancing, placed within a circle of trees, against a vibrant red background,” he tells The Better India.

Vijay may have lost count of the number of paintings he has made over 40 years but he surely remembers every pattern, style, and colour he has ever used. It takes anywhere between a week to a month for a miniature artist to complete one painting. 

“The key to such stunning artworks lies in the hand’s control over the brush and detailing. My only advice to all the beginners is to copy the existing styles and do rigorous practice before creating something of your own,” Vijay advises. 

Interestingly, this famous painter practised for days to make the Radha-Krishna Pahari-style miniature painting that now hangs in Gulzar’s house! 

All the images are sourced from Vijay Sharma.

Edited by Nishi Malhotra

In a small village named Kondagaon in Bastar District of Chhattisgarh lives a potter named Ashok Chakradhari. He has recently been trending on the internet for reviving a traditional lamp that can burn for at least 24 hours.

Being called the ‘magic lamp’, Ashok says that he tried his hand at sculpting this diya last year after watching a video on youtube.

“I am always on the lookout for new ideas that can challenge my pottery skills, and be a useful innovation for those around me. In 2019, before Diwali, I was looking for a new design to sculpt diyas. That is when I stumbled upon a lamp that carries a reservoir of oil over it and keeps refilling the base to ensure the diya does not stop burning. I found it interesting and decided to make that,” says 62-year-old Ashok.

Making the ‘magic lamp’

After watching multiple videos, Ashok made three different parts. The first was the lamp, the second, a dome-like structure that acts as a reservoir to hold the oil, and third, a tube-like structure to hold the reservoir over the lamp’s base.

The tube is open-ended and fits into the lamp’s wide base. Attached to it, the diya has a small hole opening into the tube-like structure. It also has a handle attached to the back. Through a spout opening in the dome-shaped reservoir the oil pours into the diya.

“It took me five or six tries to get the design right, but within one week I succeeded. Initially, the dome would get too heavy and the lamp would topple over, but after trial and error, I managed to get all the elements working together. I also tested it out by filling oil and lighting the diya,” says Ashok, adding that it was fascinating for him and his family to watch the fire not die out for an entire day.

How does it work?

First, the reservoir needs to be filled with oil and turned upside down over the lamp’s base. This causes the oil to start pouring from the spout into the diya. Once the small opening in the diya is covered with oil, an air gap stops the oil from leaving the reservoir.

After the diya is lit, whenever the oil’s level drops the air gap is released causing the oil to drip from the reservoir.

Ashok says, “I am unsure about the reservoir’s exact capacity but it can hold enough oil to keep the diya burning for 24 hours in one go. Only the lamp thread needs to be changed after one burns out completely.”

After he finalised the design, Ashok says he sold about 100 pieces or more last year during Diwali. This year he made the same number of lamps for Durga Puja and sold them for Rs 200 each. After sharing a video of the lamp on Facebook, he started to receive calls from close friends and family, who wanted to place orders. Soon, the video went viral and Ashok claims to have received more than 200 phone calls from people all over the country.

He says, “Some wanted to place orders for 1000 pieces and some wanted me to courier only five pieces or less. I had to refuse all those orders because I do not have the facility to send it across the country. The lamps are very delicate and can get damaged during transit. But, since I have received such a positive response from customers, I am looking for a solution to deliver these lamps safely.”

About the artisan

Though Ashok does not have a store to sell his crafts, people living around his village visit his home and purchase his handiwork. Apart from the magic lamp, he makes decorative horses, elephants and fountains based on orders. He also makes coffee mugs, dinner sets, water pots, etc.

Ashok says, “Pottery is a family business that I learnt from my father. I have been practising the art since childhood and have been earning from it all my life. I have three daughters, two of them are studying while my oldest is helping me with the business. She also does a bit of pottery.”

Known for her fusion of different genres and cultures to create soulful music, Mumbai-born and New York-based singer, Priya Darshini, has been nominated for the 63rd edition of the annual Grammy Awards.

For those who may not know, the Grammys are a prestigious award given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognise outstanding achievement in the music industry.

This multi-talented girl from Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb, is driven by passion with her hands in several pies. From creating cross-cultural music, supporting cancer patients to funding government schools in rural Maharashtra, here are five things to know about Priya: 

• Carnatic Music Meets American Hip Hop

Priya’s latest album, Periphery, comprising nine songs have been selected under the Best New Age Album award. The album, manufactured by Chesky Records, is a melting pot of American pop and traditional Carnatic music with songs like ‘Jahaan’, ‘The Banyan Tree’ and ‘Sanware Sanware’. 

“A live album, recorded entirely on one mic getting a nod from the Academy is quite surreal….I’ve dreamt of this day since I was little, but I never really thought dreams like this could come true for someone like me – a tamizh ponnu (tamil girl) from Goregaon! I thank the universe for proving me wrong,” Priya wrote in an Instagram post. 

According to Chesky Records, Priya has banked on her Indian roots and explored music from all over the world to create the Grammy-nominated masterpiece. 

“Priya displays an exciting combination of range, technique, unconventional compositions, a feminist perspective and a prodigious voice that truly sets her apart from other vocalists. She has the ability to both intrigue and captivate any audience. Priya has collaborated with a wide range of artists from Pearl Jam; Grammy award winners – Roy “Futureman” Wooten; Jeff Coffin, Philip Lassiter; to virtuoso ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro and many more,” the record writes. 

• First Love 

Born to a South Indian family, Priya’s grandmother, who was also named Priya Darshini, was an accomplished Bharatnatyam dancer and a classical vocalist.

Naturally, her first musical inspiration came from her grandmother who would often encourage her to make classical singing her profession. Like every South Indian family, Priya too was enrolled in classical singing when she turned four and there has been no looking back. 

She has sung for more than a hundred television and radio commercials and recorded for several award-winning and chart-topping Indian movie soundtracks. Her collaborations boast of groups like Karsh Kale, Grand Tapestry and Women’s Raga Massive. 

Though her first love remains to be music, she has not shied away from exploring other artforms including acting. She essayed the role of Shubhashini Das in The Letters, a 2014 movie based on Mother Teresa’s life. 

• Aiding Cancer Patients

Priya’s tryst with cancer patients began early on when her mother would often bring strangers into their one-bedroom flat in Mumbai. 

“She wanted to serve. She would bring home patients who were getting treatment and didn’t have anywhere to live. These were underprivileged and underserved people travelling to Mumbai from other parts of India,” Priya shared in a podcast. 

Having imbibed her mother’s quality, in 2004 she formally launched an NGO, Jana Rakshita. It provides holistic medical care and offers rehabilitation services to underprivileged cancer-affected children and adolescents. 

• Girl Child Education 

Through Jana Rakshita, Priya has adopted government-run schools to provide necessary infrastructure and prevent girls from dropping out of schools. 

“We have adopted a school, which is a dilapidated building with just two rooms, in Maharashtra. They don’t have potable water or electricity. The building might fall apart at any time, and yet these kids are so invested in their education,” she said in the same podcast. 

She further goes on to elaborate on the lack of sanitation and hygiene, which is a major reason for keeping girls away from school. The NGO constructed toilets in the school and within no time the attendance of girls increased. 

• Giving Sherpas Their Due

Priya is also an ultramarathoner and holds the record for being the first and the youngest Indian woman to run a 100-mile race in the Himalayas.

She has been on several expeditions that introduced her to the exploited lives of Sherpas (porters/guides). She saw how giant corporations paid them very little for their services in high altitudes of the Himalayas. 

Priya launched a social enterprise called The WindChasers that organises ultra marathons. Through the revenue generated, the company supports Sherpas and their families, “Because of WindChasers, we’ve been able to support many Sherpa families and pay them way more than any of these other expeditions would,” she says. 

All images are sourced from Priya Darshini/Instagram

Edited by Yoshita Rao

Loud clanging sounds emanate from the small town of Jandiala Guru, Amritsar, Punjab. Not surprising, since Jandiala Guru is home to a community of Thatheras. These artisans, who make brass, copper and kansa utensils by hand, are busy hammering copper and brass sheets into vessels like prayer gongs or chaya patras (reflection bowls), which are used by the bride and groom to capture each other’s reflection in oil, among others.

A part of the village’s legacy, the Thatheras, who once thrived in a post-Partition era, have now dwindled in numbers. Earnings from their outdated and unprofitable craft would not even allow for two meals a day, and the nation-wide lockdown due to the Coronavirus have only added to their woes.

However, long before the emergence of the virus, the craftsmen saw their earnings collapse, which further reduced the number of families involved in the occupation “from 500 to 30”.

It is only in recent years that these artisans have seen their income increase “exponentially by 600%” all thanks to the students of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and Enactus, an international non-profit organisation.

To preserve the karigars in the craft sector, a team of 50 people conceptualised Project Virasat, an umbrella initiative to revive dying artforms in the country.

Marked by their ‘thak thak sound’

“What differentiates the thathiar craft from others making copper utensils is the ‘thak thak’ sound that comes from the hammering of the vessels. The dotted designs on the vessels are unique to the thathera craft,” says Agrin Jain, a student of SRCC, who is one of the directors of Project Virasat.

The project was sanctioned in May 2018 after UNESCO mentioned the Thatheras in their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

“Two years ago, we identified that the thathiyar craft was on the verge of extinction. That’s when we researched more about the craft and found a lot of problems. The artisans faced oppression by middlemen, competition from stainless steel and aluminum utensils, and a sharp decline in demand for their products over the years,” adds Taruni Singhal, another director of the project.

Additionally, even though the food cooked in brass vessels is full of flavour, they’re difficult to maintain and clean.

“We started working with just two Thatheras and today support 42,” 19-year-old Taruni shares.

Project Virasat helped set up the Punjabi Thathera Art Legacy (P-TAL) a self-help group for Thatheras, which has its own website and is also listed across various e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Catering to the modern palate

“To keep up with the contemporary market we converted a traditional Indian parat bowl into a parat clock and a matka into a water dispenser,” Taruni says and adds, “With the help of our designer we designed various products like tea sets, frustum vases, spice box, dinner set, planters etc.”

With the addition of 65 new designs to their portfolio, P-TAL’s products range anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 8000.

The Thatheras are introduced to this craft at a very young age. After spending over two decades in this profession, Mandeep Kumar, 34, says, “We now have more intricate designs on our products instead of the outdated ones.”

Completing almost a year with Virasat, Mandeep says his profit margin “increased from Rs 2,500 to nearly Rs 20,000 per month”. Speaking of his slender profit margins, he adds, “We sell our products, which sometimes weigh 80-90 kgs, by weight. For brass vessels weighing 2.5 kgs, the product cost is about Rs 450 and our profit is just Rs 100. I get orders worth Rs 60,000 but since the cost of production is so high, I only make a Rs18,000-20,000 profit.”

As the products are handmade, the craftsmen tell The Better India that the weight of the product does not remain constant. If the cost per product is fixed, then the Thatheras might lose out due to increased cost, in case the weight of the product increases during its manufacturing.

The making of

To make these traditional utensils, scraps of brass and copper are first melted in a large underground furnace. Molten metal is then lifted out in iron molds and allowed to cool. The metal nuggets are then rolled into flat plates using a hand roller.

However, over the years, to streamline the process of production, the Thatheras have stopped the melting of metals at home. “The brass and copper sheets are bought by the Project Virasat team from Jagadhri, Haryana, along with other raw materials and provided to the craftsmen. They cut these sheets into different dimensions, according to the requirements of the product, hammer them out and then roll them using their traditional rollers. They buff the finished products using sandpaper,” 20-year-old Agrin shares.

Often, after the hammering process, two metal plates need to be welded together to form pots, which could increase its net weight.

‘Torchbearer of legacy’

But even with their slender profit margins, the Thatheras are not keen on leaving their legacy behind. “Our earnings were very less when we sold our products in the local market in Amritsar. I used to barely make Rs 2,000-3,000 a month, which wouldn’t even cover my cost,” begins 24-year-old Ashu Kumar.

Learning the craft of Thatheras at the tender age of 12, he quit his education after 10th standard to help out in the family business. “My grandfather taught my father who taught me the art of Thatheras,” he says and adds, “Initially, we made old products like big pots, patelis, cookers, etc. But now, with help from Project Virasat, we are able to cater to modern demands. I get 20 orders for different products like tea sets, kettles and watches from which I earn a profit of Rs 8,000-9,000.”

Speaking about carrying forward the legacy, Mandeep sums up the discussion best, “The responsibility to carry on the legacy of my father made me leave my sales job and practice this craft, and faith in P-TAL and team Virasat helped me excel at it. The satisfaction I get from hammering every piece of brass/copper, seeing my father’s heart filled with pride and the eyes of the people shining when they use our products, is more than what I would have got by doing anything else. This has given me an identity of my own, the identity of being a torchbearer of legacy.”

But what about the high cost of production and low profit margins? Mandeep shares, “I will choose having only one meal a day and keeping my identity intact rather than having a stomach full everyday and being just another person in the crowd.”

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)