Gajgamini: Power of women through ages
Mo
something like this !..
Calcutta, September 5 (HT Correspondent)
It is almost like I have done a canvas 2000 feet long.
Madhuri was my medium.
All the images are the reflections of my works as an artist
for the last sixty years.”
This was how noted painter M.F. Husain summed up Gajagamini,
the film he has directed and co-produced with his dream girl
Madhuri Dixit. He continues, “It is an outburst of the
artist. I have attempted a visual experience. Let the people
interpret it in their own ways.
“I don’t mind if the interpretations are many, like
appreciation of poetry. Frankly, I don’t know myself what I
have done. I just wanted to share my experiences with the
people, not make money out of the film.”
Mr Husain came to the news conference in his usual self —
barefoot and carrying a long brush. He said that the film’s
world premiere would be in November at the Interna-tional
Film Festival in London. In India, the premiere is to take
place not in Mumbai or Delhi, but Calcutta. Mr Husain said
that this city was right for screening such a film.
Replying to a question, he said that it was not as if he
feared the RSS or the Shiv Sena would create trouble had it
been somewhere other than Calcutta.
A 25-minute film titled Genesis of Gajagamini was screened
prior to the Press conference. He described this as a “film
on a film, and not a documentary or a promo”. Mr Husain went
on to elucidate on what the film essentially stood for.
“It is all about the dignity and power of women through
ages.” That was why Madhuri plays different roles — a blind
singer, Kalidasa’s image of Shakuntala, Mona Lisa and
finally Monica of the new millennium. He wanted the mystery
about the woman never to fade.
“Madhuri never faces the camera, but passes through time and
space,” he said.
Madhuri had more than lived up to his expectations as the
medium, said the débutante director. Mr Husain said he had
spurned all the clichés of the Mumbai film industry and
created something of his own, though he had learnt a lot
from Ray, Felini and Kurosawa. “I did not fall into the trap
of surrealism, but tried a fusion between reality and
imagination. I told my cameraman to create a reality out of
optical illusion. The structure of the film is staccato,
very clear-cut.” He agreed with Madhuri who had said that
the film was very well-defined in form, not content.
Why the name Gajagamini? “Can’t you see how beautiful and
seductive a buxom woman looks from behind as she moves with
poise and grace”, he asked. Also, there was reference of
Gajagamini as the epitome of female beauty in Kalidasa, he
said. Did he not lean too much on Bollywood stars? “As for
Madhuri, she inspired the film. The rest I have picked up
deliberately so that people go and see the movie. But they
just acted as their own. I gave them the script and never
told them a thing about the acting.”