The article is an honest interpretation of a particular extraordinary sequence in the film FINDING FANNY dealing with a true artist, his vision towards the chosen subject and the shocking revelation he makes after finishing off with his canvas all of a sudden. With a fear that whether I would be able to express myself rightly or not, I admit that many friends reading this might disagree with the article presented from an artist’s perception and many might not be able to relate with it at all due to my own limitation of putting it into a few words making a deliberate effort. Still I would love to try conveying the thoughts to the best of my ability as its indeed an important subject and hope the message reaches all friends of BTC in its purest form somehow.
To begin with, not many films come up with such a classic, masterpiece scene presenting the three major gifted characteristics of an artist (painter in the film) putting him/her into a different league altogether in comparison to everyone else. Homi Adajania’s FINDING FANNY brilliantly delivers such precious sequence after a long time and thus deserves to be seen, cherished and grasped by all interested in this particular genre.
But before describing those valuable minutes of the film, I would like to state three basic qualities of an artist as personally seen, experienced and discovered in those creative moments.
First of all, it’s a widely known fact that a gifted artist (involving any creative stream) enjoys a distinctive vision to look upon the things around and certainly sees something beyond the power of a normal eye in his subject matter, which cannot be expressed in any kind of language whatsoever, other than the creation itself once it reaches its final form. In simple words, suppose a common man and an experienced sculptor are standing before a huge piece of rock in a thinking mode, then they both would be having completely contrasting visions of the rock coming to their minds indisputably. Where the common man would not be able to go beyond the original rock, its basic shape or its rough surface visible to the naked eye, the sculptor would be busy finding his own idol hidden beneath the various layers of the rock, waiting to be extracted out using his own set of tools and the creative eye.
So the same piece of rock is being looked upon by the artist in a certain mystical way which cannot be known to anyone else until he comes up carving the final idol he had seen hidden in the rock itself. The same happens when a natural scenery is being enjoyed by a simple person and a painter standing together during a beautiful sunset. And this is so since the artist visualizes the world around him with a completely different perception based on his own creativity beyond explanation or interpretation till his final creation gets completed after passing through various painstaking processes of creation.
Secondly, once an artist moves into his own world of creating the artistic expression be it a painting, a sculpture, a poem, a song, a story, a write-up or anything else, many a times he suddenly becomes a totally different person, displaying some strange mannerisms, gestures or even tantrums going beyond his own control in a state of some kind of meditative trance. Perhaps the most appropriate word here seems to be “Junoon” explaining this particular stage of an artist while he is creating, when you cannot talk to him in a normal mode, do not find him behaving in a sane manner (while he is deeply involved with his art) and there is a complete stranger standing in front of you who is not your known friend, relative or the master living inside his own ongoing creation.Thirdly and most importantly comes the feeling an artist experiences once he completes his work, comes out of it and then sits back thinking about his creation in a relaxed mode. And its this stage of creativity which actually reveals a much deeper, purer and celestial, important truth enjoyed by the artist alone which probably can only be understood once a person goes through the same becoming the mad artist.
Going into a bold explanation of this most divine stage in some clear words, the soulful peace or the blissful satisfaction experienced by an artist after completing any of his passionate ongoing work is actually quite equivalent to the feeling of sexual orgasm felt after an intense intercourse.
In fact that is the reason, artists seem to be very close to being eccentric as they are not even concerned about what’s happening in the outer world while they are deeply involved in their passionate work……….exactly like one feels while being into a deep sexual act with the eyes closed. And once they come out of this process of an ecstatic creation they feel immensely satisfied, contended and at peace just like one gets relieved post having an enjoyable sexual union.
No doubt interpreting the above complex artistic features in a film-scene is certainly not an easy task. But thankfully its right there in FINDING FANNY with its Don Pedro brilliantly portrayed by the one and only Pankaj Kapoor following his subject of art Ms. Rosie, also entertainingly played by Dimple Kapadia quite bravely.
The Sequence in the FilmRightly following the description attempted above about an artist’s persona, Don Pedro in the film has all lust and less love in his eyes for Ms. Rosie and her voluminous body before he is given the permission to make a painting of her by the lady herself. In the initial part of the film, Pedro is willing to do anything to get closer to her before he picks up his brush and sets up the canvas to paint Ms. Rosie posing as his loved subject.
But once he is into his creative process of making the painting, he suddenly becomes a changed man, an angry obsessed person who starts scolding the lady to stand straight quite arrogantly. He doesn’t allow her to put her hand down for even a second without caring about any kind of discomfort she must be feeling and slips into an entirely different persona away from the Don Pedro we had seen and enjoyed before the commencement of his painting.
Further the moment he finishes off with his artwork after a few minutes in the sequence, he makes the most stunning, shocking and unusual revelation about Ms. Rosie, after looking through her entire personality in and out through his blessed eyes of an artist or a creator.
And taking his canvas off from the stand he declares (not in exact words),
“No, you are not as beautiful from the inside as you seem to be, owning an inviting body and a glowing face.
No you are not the person I would like to meet or spend time with, as disclosed by my honest brush.
No you are not any likable person at all but an ugly, horrible lady with an overgrown body.
No I don’t want you any more…………… I am just done with you………. so get lost!”
In simple words, he is not feeling the same lust or love for the lady anymore or is now all done with her without even touching her body even once because he has witnessed something quite awful and dark in his adorable subject, along with enjoying an unexplainable sort of sexual satisfaction in the process too pacifying him by all means.
Moreover, his honest interpretation of Ms. Rosie post the painting session also gets justified or accepted by the lady herself since she doesn’t feel like denying, revolting or fighting back despite going through the unexpected humiliation all of a sudden. Because deep inside she also knows that the painter has said it all right about her inner reality she had been hiding since long and Don Pedro is the real artist who could see it all as it is, through his gifted visionary eyes and creative ability.
As a frank confession, I haven’t seen or probably cannot recall witnessing such powerful scene about an artist and his creative process in any other Indian or foreign flick portraying the concept so thoughtfully along with the added humour taking it to much greater heights before. So in my opinion, this surely calls for an essential watch at the earliest making an extra effort in the theaters itself. Plus this particular scene needs to be included in one of the “Ten Most Thoughtful Sequences” of our Hindi films for sure without any doubt.
So you just can’t afford to miss it and I hope the article is able to express the difficult truth reaching all like-minded friends of BTC with HIS BLESSINGS.
Bobby Sing
(Sept. 2014)
