The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

A blend of realism and abstract
By Kavita Bhargava

A VERY strong feeling that his birth as a human being has some purpose — creating a masterpiece which will be remembered by art lovers all over the globe or accomplishing such an artistic pursuit still unachieved by anyone — gives Chander Prakash an inspiration to live. At the same time, this young sculptor who has carved a niche for himself at the J&K and national art scene, says when the very purpose of his living — “carving a masterpiece” — will be achieved, he might commit suicide. As he himself puts it: Only then, my existence in this world will no more be required as I will have already achieved my aim”.

Such an intense artist that Chander is one cannot afford to take his words lightly. Working extensively for hours together, putting life in wood, stone, cement and a number of other mediums, Chander has been working non-stop for his creative pursuits.

Hailing from Udhampur, some 60 km from Jammu, 26 -year -old Chander had an inclination towards sketching and drawing from the very beginning. There was, however, no artistic atmosphere in the family. But he used to go deep into the countryside and use charcoal to make sketches on rocks. He remembers that his love for sketching was so deep that once he got a thrashing for sketching on the walls of a newly painted house. The owner of the house cleaned the walls with the shirt he was wearing!

Though initially he had some opposition from his family when he decided to choose a career in arts, he, however, persuaded them to send him for a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Jammu. And he successfully completed it in sculpture.

Chander’s works have a freshness which carry with them his impeccable mark. Though there is a simplicity in his works, yet these are stunning. His realistic works impress the audience as many of the themes have been picked up from the surroundings only. The Egyptian Gothic style is evident in his creative works. The emerging figures take the form of Egyptians and these form the basis of his design element which has a big horizontal block. “While pursuing my degree, I had seen a film on the Egyptians. Besides, I have studied a them quite a lot,” says Chander adding that the mysticism among the Egyptians has influenced him a lot.

Spiritual influences, though in the form of Osho’s philosophy in his personal life, has also added something to his works. Chander informs that in the early phase of his life, he was influenced by divine forces. Thinking deeply over the meaning of life for hours together provided him an insight which is reflective in his figurative works. Even though that phase of life is over now, yet a blend of realism and abstract is still the hallmark of his creations.

He always carries a slip-paid and pencils in his shoulder bag. Anywhere , anytime, anything can come to his mind. A few strokes here and there, and the figure is ready on the paper. Then Chander doesn’t look back. With the availability of the medium in which the work would come out in the best form, he then starts working on it. Time period vanishes for him once he starts working on his pursuit.

“ For me, material has an utmost importance. Material changes the entire concept of an object,” feels Chander. Till now he has worked in clay, cement, wood, plaster of Paris etc. But now he wants to experiment in various media. He also wants to make sculptures in deodar, but as it is very costly, he finds it difficult to manage on his finances.

Chander’s many figurative images are experiments with nature. The countryside offers him solace and he derives his themes from it. His imagination keeps on tantalising him till he gives shape to it through his medium.

Most of his early works on clay are depictions of head and bodies of various types. “Working with clay sometimes seems too difficult and frustrating. Sometimes when a piece is on the verge of completion, it is broken and then you have to start again. It can happen again and again and sometimes you destroy the piece yourself when you are not getting the desired results,” says Chander. Most of his present works are either in stone or wood.

Though working in a mix-media is next on his agenda, Chander is also planning to make painted sculptures. Such type of sculptures, says the young artist, were found in ancient India. Citing examples, he says Jagannath Puri idol in Orrisa and many ancient Indian deities are painted wooden sculptures which have an excellent combination of carving, colour and impesto.

Chander’s sculpture “Two-tier AC” in wood and thread, was selected for the 42nd National Exhibition of Art-2000 organised by Lalit Kala Akademi at Jaipur and New Delhi. He has also received the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages state award for sculpture in 1997 and 1998 for his works entitled “The Group” and “Buddha”, respectively. While “The Group” was inspired by Gulzar’s film song Chappa chappa charkha chale... and depicted a group of people, “Buddha” was entirely a one-piece figurative of Lord Buddha. Both were in wood.

Besides, he has also won an AIFACS award and a AIFACS scholarship in 1998 and 1999. A participant in J&K annual art exhibitions from 1994-1997, he also participated in the 10th National Kala Mela in Delhi in 1997 and the All-India Inter-University Art workshop at Kala Bhavan, Shanti Niketan (West Bengal). He was awarded the Broadway award at the J&K state annual art exhibition in 1997.

If any person has influenced his life to a great extent, it is his teacher and mentor Rajender Tikoo. Himself a Triennale awardee, Tikoo is an internationally acclaimed sculptor who is always there to guide him. Chander himself says whatever little he has achieved today, it is because of the able guidance and direction of his teacher.

For an exuberant youngster who is serious about his art, Chander has not been able to seek the right support. “If ever in my life I am given an opportunity to make a city beautiful, I’ll make it one of the most beautiful cities of the world by making sculptures for every roundabout”, he says, adding, if the state government is serious about art, it can also get the big rocks at Ramnagar carved which can become a big attraction for tourists.

	Fast songs keep me away: Susheela THE Nightingale of South India P. Susheela, who enthralled music-lovers with her soulful numbers, feels that “fast songs” keep her away at present from the field. “I am not rendering any film songs at present. Light songs and devotional music programmes keep me busy and occupied,” Susheela, who was Thiruvananthapuram in connection with a function recently, said. She said this was the period of fast numbers. “Music is the same and it has the same sapthaswarangal as in classical songs; only the tune is different,” she said. The period of Susheela, P. Leela, S. Janaki, the trinity in Malayalam music pantheon in the 1960s and 1970s, was considered to be the “Vasanthakalam” (golden age) in the Malayalam film industry. The three rendered some memorable duets with singing maestro Yesudas and P. Jayachandran. Susheela’s famous song Pattu padi yurakam jan.... (I will sing a lullaby), rendered a few decades ago, still remain close to the heart of millions of Keralites. With nearly 35,000 songs to her credit in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, Susheela said her duets with Yesudas were most popular, as their “voices matched together.” “When it comes to Telugu, it is Gandasala and in Tamil, it is T.M. Sounderajan,” Susheela, who first rendered her song when she was 16-year-old, said. — PTI
	Sight & Sound Behind the pain and anguish by Amita Malik SERIES on hospitals are not exactly an original idea. We have been watching Chicago Hope for some time now. And Discovery Channel is currently running an excellent session on health, shot a good deal in hospitals. So when BBC World embarked on its series Hospital, which has now been on for two weeks, it had to tread with extreme care. Because, in spite of all those melodramatic hospital sequences in Mumbai films, Indian TV has not had a proper hospital serial in its own right. So it was a good idea. But after watching the first two instalments, I have my reservations about the way the idea is executed. I think the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences is a good choice. It is a premier institution both for training and health services and above the controversy which some private hospitals have recently undergone. A pity the beginning was a little confused because the programme veered from the hospital’s bio data, laced with a good deal of statistics, to the actuality “live” sequences. I feel the bio data part should have been got out of the way first and then moved on to the patients and doctors. In fact, I find that the tempo of the narration and the progress of actual cases is lacking in urgency, and therefore robbed of inherent human drama which is natural to hospitals. Secondly, admitting that Chicago Hope is partly fictionalised, one of its most fascinating aspects is the interplay of character, between doctors and doctors, doctors and nurses and in turn their interplay with patients. I think tying down the medical analyses to one doctor and one nurse, who in turn talk to the camera about the patients in a very clinical, impersonal language takes away from the human angle. But what I felt most, was the initial choice of the patients. Emergency is all very well, but it can be frightening for viewers for whom the series should be an introduction to the positive side of hospitals so that it builds up their confidence. Also, to begin with a premature infant whose mother died in child-birth and whose father and relatives took time to turn up was not very cheering. Worse was the end of the second episode, where the older patient suffering from fever and who had not eaten for 15 days was first sent by mistake to the Emergency and then turned away. One would have expected him to be referred to some other department first. And, tragically, the village boy who lost his eyesight due to an injection was kept waiting in agony for days for a transplant and finally simply sent back, just as he came, to the village. It seemed the height of callousness. The other unsavoury aspects were close-ups of blood and gore, of scarred faces, of injured eyes and limbs, of the needles of injections visibly plunging into an arm. The old Sikh gentleman, the victim of a hit-and-run accident lay there almost throughout with blood on his face, his clothes and his legs. One would expect a responsible hospital to clean him up first and the producer should have spared us prolonged close shots of him in that state. Most horrifying were shots in the mortuary when a suitable eye for transplant was being located and the shots of the actual eyes kept in a bottle. This kind of shot is absolutely taboo for lay viewers and was most disturbing. In the foreign hospital series, everything is conveyed by verbal description and suggestion and physically disturbing shots kept to the minimum. In short I feel the series should have started with more positive, cheerful happenings in a hospital, the birth of a baby, someone regaining eye-sight, a polio patient learning to walk. This totally negative beginning left one more depressed, including the negative end to two cases, than something positive and cheerful and far less clinical in terms of visuals would have done. Then the tempo simply must pick up and not meander casually from one case to another. More doctors and nurses could talk to each other. Otherwise Hospital will end up as a routine documentary on AIIMS rather than the exciting, uplifting human drama it could so easily be. There is surely plenty of material in such an elite institution. The Alva brothers, Nikhil and Niret have shown enough spirit and innovative skills in their earlier programmes on cars, travel and the environment to pep up this potentially exciting series and give it full throttle in human terms, without patients being reduced to guinea pigs.
	Audioscan by ASC Punjabi ‘Champion’ CHAMPION (Tips): Before reading the fine print, what one knew about this album was that it had lyrics by Javed Akhtar and music by Anu Malik. Naturally, when one heard the song, Le lo le lo (dil mera), main dene ko tayyar hoon…. (Poornima, Udit Narayan) one was outraged. Poornima is known for this sort of songs; Anu Malik is no saint either. But how could Javed stoop to that level? Fortunately, the misgivings have proved to be ill-founded. This particular number has been written by Nitin Raikwar and set to music by Vishal Shekhar. This team has also done the title song. That means that Javed is clean as ever. Another song is also from non-Anu Malik stable. Jatt luttya gaya … has music and lyrics by Anand Raj Anand and has been sung by Hema Sardesai and Shankar Sahni (his name is wrongly spelt on the jacket). In comparison, the Anu Malik compositions are more graceful. The Javed touch is there only in Ek ladki …. (Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Prashant and chorus). Na baba na baba … (Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan and chorus) has the right beat to make it popular. KUCH KHATTI KUCH MEETHI (Tips): Anu Malik again. But lyrics are by Sameer. Overall, it is a better package. Sunil Shetty lives up to his reputation of getting to lip-synch with highly melodious songs. Here he has at least two: Saamne baith kar … and Neend udh rahee hai … by Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. Alka Yagnik does some vocal calisthenics to make you believe that the title song is by two singers. Anu Malik joins Sunidhi Chauhan in crooning Ab nahin to kab …. New singer Anuradha Sriram has given a good account of herself in Bandh kamare mein…. NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL INDIPOP (Sony): The definition of Indipop must be getting very liberal. Imagine Bhupen Hazarika’s classic, Ganga …, figuring in such a collection with just a wee bit of remix. But then, Section 52 of the Copyright Act allows you such liberties. Among other songs re-done this way are Hum bewafa … from the film “Shalimar” and O mere dil ke chain … from the film “Mere Jeevan Saathi” by Instant Karma and Noorie, from the film of the same name by Bally Sagoo. There are some original songs also like Piya basanti … by Chitra and Ustad Sultan Khan, Tanha dil … by Shaan and Tu kaun hai … by Lucky Ali.