Bollywood and Visual arts in india.

Today was Sanjay my driver’s birthday. For his birthday he really wanted to go see a Bollywood film. He kept insisting I needed to see the theater in Jaipur. I'm so glad I agreed. It was absolutely gorgeous, two floors, with state of the art sound equipment, dark wood sculpted paneling in the lobby, and white sculpted wall interior. I understand why he was so excited to show it to me. The cinema only shows one film, which was a comedy, De Dana Dan. A Bollywood film, it didn’t have subtitles, but regardless I was laughing through the whole thing. It was easy enough to understand the storyline without needing to understand the words. I was surprised - I take that back - I was blown away - it not only rivaled any American comedy I’ve seen, but it was about 1000x’s more clever while being much cleaner. And true to Bollywood form, every so often in a dramatic moment it cuts to a charmingly ridiculous, but wonderfully orchestrated, dance and song number with the main characters. I’ve never really given Bollywood a second thought until now, but as of today I’m officially a fan. Check out the movie: http://dedanadan.erosentertainment.com/

Which brings me to my next thing. The visual arts in India. This is something keeps on surprising me. Today I went to another discarded monument, which is a shame because it is absolutely gorgeous. Jawahar Kala Kendra is the name, it was built in 1993 and is brilliant contemporary architecture with nine structures each representing a planet. Each one displays a different version of handicrafts and textiles. It’s a little known gem, that was sadly vacant of patrons other than myself when I visited. Much like the National Museum, it was immensely dusty and spots were incredibly dirty, great works of culture and art just glazed over in a layer of grime. My guess is that the funding just isn’t there to keep this great landmark alive. However, there was a sculptor in residence that I had the pleasure of spending time with. His name is Raj Kumawat. Raj is beyond talented. He is currently preparing for a show in Mumbai in a gallery, which he has to pay crazy fees for, shipping, gallery cuts, he will barely cover his costs if he sells anything. And anyone that’s ever sculpted knows how expensive of an art form sculpture is. He doesn’t speak English, but we were able to talk through my driver who translated. I am hoping to buy one of his sculptures when I’m back in the states, they are only about $600 US which is absurdly inexpensive for bronze. He doesn’t have a website, but he’s working on getting one. That’s the thing about all this talent here. Artisans often don’t have the means to get their work out there. It’s like the National Contemporary Art Gallery I went to, I wrote down the names of all of these amazing artists, came back to my room, Googled them, and for the most part, found absolutely nothing on the web. Sad to think these artists are at the National Gallery but none of the rest of the world will ever get to know more about them unless you come here. I’ve been buying up as art as I can, and am seriously considering a trip back over just for this purpose somewhere down the road. I hate to see great talent go to waste, or not be given the credit it’s due.