MF Husain – A Pictorial Tribute: Book Review

They say, a picture is worth a thousand words. An exquisite painter, a colorful personality, a filmmaker with a social cause and a lover of the most beautiful and expensive cars on earth- Maqbaal  Fida Husain was a conundrum to those who admired him.

Author Pradeep Chandra, who is also a painter by profession, pays the master artist a tribute by summarizing his life, through various pictures he shot of him at various times in his life. An inspiring story of rags to riches, the book showcases that until the end, M F Husain lived like an artist. Be it his passion of painting, designing furniture or making films, his way of showing creativity is indecipherable.

The book also lets us know about the very few things Husain sa’ab never really spoke of. He was very interested in getting photographed, and very fond of looking at his own image. Though, he never acted, he used to perform brilliantly in front of the camera.

The book also showcases pictures of Husain’s candid moments like sleeping in a gallery, his last Eid celebrations with actors like Urmila Matondkar and Tabu, he in the company of his grandchildren at a birthday celebration wearing birthday caps and watching a belly dancer, and many more. In fact, what awed me was, there is an entire chapter dedicated to his bare feet.

The book is more of a pictorial tribute, the write-ups though small, do not lack substance. Husain’s narration of why he shunned his shoes after the death of Hindi poet Muktibodh, is worth reading. Author, Pradeep Chandra paints a picture of the man he attempts to understand via his work, installations, theater, family, friends and the women who inspired him.

The book celebrates the life of a true artist and a great man, whose absence has left a great crater in the world of art and in the lives of those who still admire him.