Author Ashwini Bhatnagar, whose book on Amrita Sher-Gil, ‘Amrita and Victor’, is being adapted into a documentary, says he has not fictionalised even one bit of her life
Indian-Hungarian artist Amrita Sher-Gil remains one of India’s most celebrated artists. Hailed as a pioneer in modern Indian art; among the many honours, there is a postage stamp depicting her painting, Hill Women, and a road in Delhi named after her. Yet prolific and acclaimed author Ashwini Bhatnagar, whose book ‘Amrita and Victor’ is being adapted as a documentary, believes otherwise.
He observes, “Amrita did not get the global recognition she deserved. Often compared to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, she may not have been a Picasso but in the same line of artistic geniuses.” In his documentary, he would rather call it a film, he wants to approach Amrita the person. Yes, it will look at her life through a dozen of her iconic paintings, serving as some sort of ‘psych-geography’, the place influencing artistic impulses.
Indeed, there are many documentaries on the great artist, by Amrita’s niece Navina Sundaram, another by artist Subodh Kerkar and then Films Division of India’s National Award winning film too has delved into her life. What distinguishes Bhatnagar’s take? “For one, it will not be a flat chronicler; born on January, 30, 1913, at Budapest, died on December 5, 1941, in Lahore, the usual mapping of the iconic artist using archival footage.” Nor would it be a salacious look at her bohemian lifestyle choices. Rather Bhatnagar takes umbrage at what he calls ‘the Khushwant Singh mind-set of looking at women as commodities’. An ode to her immense talent, the film is equally about the woman and her love, Victor Egan.
For someone who has done research on her for six years, Bhatnagar is aware of her traumas, ups and downs of a short life — she died at 28. He can’t stop talking about the angst she nursed, the anger against her Hungarian mother, Marie Antoniette Gottesmann, strong bond with her Sikh father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, loving relationship with her Hungarian cousin Victor, as well as many men, and women, in her life.
Bhatnagar has his own set of favourite paintings too, like Bharatmata. He shares a story of how India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru felt that Amrita’s painting of a poor rural Indian woman, with an infant son in her lap and a young daughter by her side, was probably the most realistic depiction of our motherland. Yet another painting of Amrita who studied at École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, he singles out is Professional Model, of a 40-year old model suffering from tuberculosis. An award-winning work, he says, “She exposed the underbelly of Parisian society beneath the glamour.”
While tracing her journey in the film divided into three parts, Bhatnagar is adamant about not fictionalising even one bit of her life. Like her nephew Vivan Sundaram once said, ‘artists can take liberty with historical facts’, Bhatnagar has no issues with artistic liberty. Only, he adds, “If you can tell the story as it is and as effectively, why take the fictional route.” One day, the book might leap on to the silver screen as a feature film as many filmmakers have reached out to him. However, a film on Amrita, a period one, a tale spread across Hungary, France and India, requires a mega budget. Till then, he is making his documentary at ‘fraction of the cost’ for which he has turned a co-producer and a British director has been roped in.
Screen adaptations of books are not a given. “Written word is enough and not all books lend themselves to visual adaptations,” he insists. But he doesn’t discount the power of cinema and reminds us how ‘Guide’ became a different creative beast in the hands of Dev Anand and Vijay Anand. On the aside he also throws in the tale of how RK Narayan, the author, was aghast when he went on the sets and thundered, “You have murdered my book.” Is that why he decided to write the screenplay? He laughs, “I decided to murder my own book.” On a serious note, he promises sans aids like artificial intelligence Amrita will come alive like never before and viewers would be transfixed by, ‘oh we didn’t know this’ feeling of elation. Ready by early next year, he may profess to be non-judgemental, but his empathy for Amrita, who he believes struggled with identity at many levels, including her artistic choices, is more than palpable.
Art meets life meets love… are we likely to fall in love with Amrita then? “The idea is not to make viewers fall in love, but to truly appreciate this woman who created so much space for herself.” Clearly, if Amrita was not one-dimensional her documentary possibly can’t and shouldn’t be!
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Words of wisdom
Having worked with leading dailies, Ashwini Bhatnagar doesn’t believe journalists make for natural authors for, “If journalism is a craft, writing is an art. Precisely why we can’t stop quoting Shakespeare.” It is the beauty of art that draws him to women like Amrita Sher-Gil and Meena Kumari, whose biography too he has authored. He doesn’t view them as tragedies. “There is no happy life ever. Meant to float freely, they were looking for an anchor without the need for one. Their creativity was so intense and they didn’t require another person to fulfil it.”
