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INTERVIEW | M.F. HUSAIN
In Conversation
It is said that renowned painter-turned-filmmaker M.F. Husain has an obsession for number 8. Maybe because his birthday falls on September 17 (where seven plus one equals eight). This year the maestro will celebrate his 88th birthday, and on the occasion he is holding an exhibition of 88 of his paintings.
Many of his friends are keen to host a party for him, which proves his popularity. In appreciation of Husain’s never-say-die spirit, we reproduce his interview on his new film Meenaxi: A Tale Of Three Cities...
What was the germination point of Meenaxi?
After Gaja Gamini, I had sworn to myself that I wouldn’t make another film. Whatever I wanted to say through the medium of cinema I had said. Moreover 50-60 paintings, drawings and digital images had culminated out of the Gaja Gamini experience. The idea for Meenaxi came about because of my friend (painter) Tyeb Mehta. He pointed out that Gaja Gamini had been shot entirely on studio sets, he suggested that I should now take the camera out to the landscape, transform the written word of the script into a landscape of cities.
Cities has always been one of my favourite themes. I have painted Varanasi, Kolkata, and there was Rome in 1957. Big cities fascinate me, which is why perhaps I have never lived outside a city.
I have never been at ease in a farmhouse. I’m at ease rising up in the city, going out for my early morning tea in an Irani or chiliya cafe, I’d rather be with crowds that remain secluded. This stems from my childhood in Indore maybe. I was born in the rural surroundings of Pandharpur, but when my mother died I was barely two years old, and the family moved to Indore. As a child I rarely remained indoors in Indore, I’d be mostly outside the house, playing or running around the town helter-shelter. I started painting at the age of 14 or 15.
Ram Kumar, who paints nature landscapes, once took me along with him to Mussoorie to see if it would entice my creative impulses. I couldn’t spend a night there. I asked him, “How can you paint here? It’s so still, so quiet, you can write poetry here.â€
The three cities of Meenaxi are Hyderabad, Jaisalmer and Prague. Who choose them over Indore where you grew up?
Indore has its charm and distinct identity, but Hyderabad has an aesthetic and culture that has drawn me constantly. I have been drawn to Delhi, Varanasi, Kolkata, Rome and Beijing. I have also longed to paint Istanbul and visited the city a while ago... and Baghdad too. Similarly, there has been Hyderabad whose people and history has been so rich and varied that its choice was inevitable. I’ve travelled to Jaisalmer almost every year: its deserts, its colours have been an ongoing inspiration.
Charles Dickens wrote A Tale Of Two Cities. I wanted to extend the number to three. Prague was the third city for the film because I have visited it very often, it holds some very imperishable memories for me. For me Prague’s Gothic architecture, traditions and classical music are a means for abiding exploration.
You knew a woman called Maria in Prague, once. Is the character of Maria in the film essentially her?
Maria in the film is an amalgamation of my impressions and regard for her. I can’t say this absolutely surely but I would have kept returning to Prague throughout my life, with or without the memories of Maria. I love the city. If Rome in western Europe is grand, Prague in eastern Europe strikes an intimacy,and the kind of existential depth that can be found in the novels of Kafka.
Any reason for picking Meenaxi as the film’s title?
Initially, I had toyed with the idea of titling the film Do Kadam Aur Sahi, which signified two more steps taken after Gaja Gamini. Then I thought of Meenaxi, the scriptures say that she had the eyes of a fish. The character of Meenaxi in the film is someone whose eyes are always alert, like a fish’s eyes are open and watching in water. In the film, in the Jaisalmer segment, she is an activist fighting against the scarcity of water... which I intended as a contradiction to her name.
The woman protagonist has split identities, as Meenaxi in Hyderabad and Jaisalmer, and as Maria in Prague? Have you ever met such women?
I have met Maria, but if you ask me if I have met a specific person like Meenaxi, the answer is no. On the other hand, Meenaxi is very much like some of the women I have met, her eyes like theirs are observant, unsparing and mesmerising.
How did you go about writing the screenplay?
I think the entire unit with bowled over by the brilliance of Tabu, we changed the screenplay which was all down on paper, to give further scope to her brilliance, instead of hedging her in. She interpreted the character of Maria and the Meenaxi of Jaisalmer on her own and did an outstanding job. As for the Meenaxi of Hyderabad, Tabu’s from the city herself and so she could know every nuance of the role naturally. I don’t tell actors to perform in a mannered way, I don’t tell to do this or that, I give them total freedom to add their own experiences and inputs into the roles.
On the screenplay and direction, I had my son Owais as collaborator. He has young mind and younger perceptions. Often I would withdraw completely and give him total independence. I think Owais and I also struck a wonderful rapport with A.R. Rahman and Santosh Sivan. (Laughs) So Meenaxi, in its entirely, is a combination of my classical touch and contemporary perceptions.
While altering the screnplay’s storyline, Owais and I at times would be in total confrontation. We came to a collision point in Jaisalmer over our differing attitudes. In retrospect, the clash was good, we had a firmer screenplay and a stronger outlook. After the clash, the flash, it was like rubbing two stones together to create the sparks.
When you write, is the approach similar to that of an artist’s?
No, words and images are poles apart. You cannot paint a word. Nawab, the novelist in the film, could never have been imagined as a painter at all. When I write, the structure is totally different. I enjoy playing with words, it’s another kind of discipline altogether.
Has the character of Kaameshwar been modelled after you as a young man?
You’re finding a similarly because of Kaameshwar’s appearance, in a black coat and flowing hair and beard. But there isn’t the slightest reflection in him of me as a person or as a painter. The closest real life person in the film is Maria, but then I haven’t focused on her. The emphasis isn’t on any one particular character, the emphasis is on the totality of the picture.
Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Frankly, I never visualise anything completely before I start out on a painting or on a film. I avoid the conventional elements, like Luis Bunuel I try to break the logic of placing two images together, like say the images of a horse and a woman.
How steeped are you in film making?
I am keen to make one more film, a situational Keatonesque comedy, with an Indian sensibility. I’ve started writing its script over a year ago. Now I have to find the right actress to play the lead part.
You have written the lyric for the qawwali Noor-un-ala in Meenaxi. How did that happen?
I was in Chennai. Rahman was composing the qawwali but wasn’t satisfied with the words that had been written. He felt that the word ishq has been overused. I said I would write the words instead. Some days later I was in hospital for an ailment, I was lying on the bed before the break of morning, when the words came to me, which express the kindness of the lord whose glow and presence is within us all. The qawwali is exultant about the presence of the light and what a light it is! It is a Sufi thought, a thought that keep us going even when there is pitch darkness.
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