M.F. Husain's Love Affair with Bollywood

Among Husain's muses are Madhuri Dixit and Vidya Balan.

M.F. Husain has wielded the brush all his life to be India's greatest contemporary painter but he had as much of his heart in Bollywood. No wonder, many from the film industry, including his muses, have expressed grief over his death.
The barefoot artist, who died in London on Thursday, has painted beautiful women and was enamoured by at least five Bollywood divas -- Madhuri Dixit, Tabu, Amrita Rao, Vidya Balan and Anushka Sharma. And this fascination began at the age of 85 when he had first met Madhuri.
Making his debut in filmmaking in the role of a director with “Through the Eyes of a Painter” in 1967, Husain ventured into feature films with “Gaja Gamini” in the year 2000 with Madhuri Dixit, followed by “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities” starring Tabu.
He was so fascinated by Madhuri Dixit in “Hum Aapke Hai Kaun” that he watched the film 67 times and booked an entire theatre to see her comeback movie “Aaja Nachle” in 2007.
Husain immortalised her “quintessential beauty” in his paintings and no matter how many Bollywood divas impressed Husain, Madhuri indisputably remained the “queen of his heart”. This was evident from his making a movie with Madhuri, making a life-size painting of her and an exhibition dedicated to her.
Despite the critical and commercial failure of “Gaja Gamini”, Husain ventured into filmmaking for the second time with Tabu as his muse in “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities”. The film did not suffer a similar fate but remained ignored by the common audience.
Husain was also impressed with Ram Gopal Varma's discovery Urmila Matondkar. Interestingly, more than sensuous, Husain found Urmila very funny. He, in fact, rued not having painted the “Rangeela” girl's canvas on the big screen as he had plans of a comedy film with her.
Later, Amrita Rao impressed the legendary painter with her simplicity in “Vivah” so much that he happened to watch the film nine times.
Not just that, his love for Sooraj Barjatya films and Amrita led him to organise a grand farewell to “Vivah” at a major movie theatre in Dubai.
Vidya Balan became the next to flutter his heart. Her sensuous-rustic role in “Ishqiya” amazed Husain so much that he was planning to make a film while he was in Qatar.
The latest Bollywood actress that stole his heart was Anushka Sharma. The legendary painter could not stop raving about her after watching her in “Band Baaja Baraat”. He was so smitten by her girl-next-door beauty that he conveyed his feelings all the way from Qatar and Anushka was on cloud nine to be counted in the same league as Madhuri and Vidya.
Madhuri, who is now settled in the U.S., described Husain's death as a sad day and great loss for India. “I fall short of words to express my grief,” she said.
She recalled that she had met the painter when he was 85 and “I always marvelled at his energy. I once told him to sit down, relax and have a cup of tea. And he said: 'what you are asking me to do is not relaxation but it's a punishment.”
Reminiscing working with Husain in “Gaja Gamini”, Madhuri said, “It was a unique experience. He wanted each frame to look like a painting. He was the director but was always an artist first.”
She said Husain retained some child-like qualities till his last. “Age never touched him. When I had spoken to him three months ago, he was as excited as a child about his latest project about one hundred years of Indian cinema.”
“Husain saab would call me from different parts of the world to share smallest and big details about his life and profession,” the actress said, adding, “I had invited him to visit Denver several times but he was always busy.”
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan mourned the death of Husain and said that the best gift he received from the celebrated artist was a painting of Lord Hanuman when he was recuperating at a hospital after an accident on the sets of “Coolie”.
“Deeply saddened by the news about Husain saab. He was not only a great artist but an incredible human being. His passion and love for life was contagious and unparalleled. May his soul rest in peace,” tweeted Kunal Kapoor who made his acting debut with “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities”.
Expressing grief, actress Shabana Azmi said that Husain was a close friend and a wonderful human being. “He was a prolific painter. Talented individuals like him are born once in 100 years. I last met him through a video-conference. He was deeply moved when we told him we will try to bring him back to India. He missed India.”
“Hussain passes away. We hang our heads partly in grief and partly in shame for not being able to let him spend his last days in this country,” tweeted actor Rahul Bose.
Internationally renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur tweeted: “M.F. Husain who seemed ageless, painting till his last days, leaves us with one of India's greatest legacies of art.”