Meenaxi: M F Husain's Return to Film

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NEW DELHI, Mar 24 (IPS) - The celebrated painter M F Husain's latest

cinematic venture, "Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities", might as well

have have been a "tale of talents," because of the way it converges

Indian artistic talent at its inspired best.

 

The title of the two-hour feature film derives from the fact that it

was shot in the Indian cities of Hyderabad and Jaisalmer and in the

capital of the Czech Republic, Prague. These historic, culturally

rich cities form the backdrop for "Meenaxi" (with the actress Tabu

in the title role), a woman in search of perfect love.

 

Meenaxi's is not the only quest. The story -- "Meenaxi" refers to

the fish-eyed Hindu goddess -- weaves around the search by the Urdu-

language writer Nawab, played by Raghubir Yadav, for his lost muse

and his rediscovery of self.

 

This unfolds following his chance meeting with the lithe and lissome

Meenaxi, a seller of perfumes, at a 'qawwali' (devotional Sufi

singing which blended Hindu and Islamic mysticism) in the central

Indian city of Hyderabad.

 

Meenaxi proves to be something of a wayward muse, but she goads and

torments Nawab into states of passion that perhaps is the real muse

of all art. Ask Husain and he will tell you that "the only true gift

a human being can have is passion."

 

Tabu and Yadav have formidable reputations not only as highly rated

actors in Bollywood, India's commercial cinema industry, but also

for their ability to get under the skin of the difficult, complex

characters they are called upon to play.

 

The male lead role, that of a raffish motor mechanic, is played by

Kunnal Kapoor, a male model selected for his compellingly classic

features.

 

M F Husain, 88, and his son Owais Husain, 36, have thrown in the

music of A R Rahman, the camerawork of Santosh Sivan, and the

singing voices of Asha Bhonsle and Alka Yagnik and the Lebanese

Dalinda to create their extravaganza of colour, song and dance.

 

Prague, one of Husain's favourite cities from the time he first

visited in 1956, adds to the international touch as does the

choreography supervised by the Italian National Award winner Illiana

Czhtaristi.

 

"I wanted the best," M F Husain told IPS, with the same

uncompromising attitude that is the hallmark of his paintings that

adorn the homes of serious collectors around the world. Not long

ago, a Husain painting, "Sitar Player," fetched 50,000 U.S. dollars

at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong.

 

Those who are tempted to view Meenaxi, the film, as another painting

may be forgiven because Husain sees celluloid in much the same way

as he would canvas.

 

This why during the making of Meenaxi, serious differences of

opinion arose between him and Owais, who is also a painter but more

serious about making a transition into the multi-dimensional world

of filmmaking.

 

"There were times when the differences were so serious that we

thought the film would not come off," said Owais. But perseverance

paid off and each time he was able to bring around his father who is

as famous for his moods as his masterpieces.

 

M F Husain easily and generously gives credit for the film to Owais,

but the master's touch is apparent from the word go. Indeed, the

track was rewritten by Husain, who has studied the art of the Sufi

mystics and even the title "Meenaxi" was his suggestion.

 

Owais is equally modest, saying that he was blessed by the sheer

talent of actors of the calibre of Tabu whose acrobatic swaying to

the opening solo number "Yeh Rishta" ("This Relationship") which

features Dalinda, sets the pace for the whirlwind of emotions and

feelings that follows.

 

Tabu, in turn, ascribes her dervish-like performance to A R Rehman's

music: "It is the music. It is almost divine."

 

There is nothing incidental about the dervish bit. "Rahman and I

went to Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi's birthplace in Anatolia to listen

to the dervishes when we were researching the scores," said Owais.

 

Comments the leading Bollywood film critic Khalid Mohammed after a

preview: "Marvellously European in its candidness and utterly rooted

in the Indian soil in its surging spirit and high drama, 'Meenaxi'

from its first shot to the last, moves with a puckish spirit, almost

as if its makers were escorting the viewer through a fairground

carnival."

 

Ever the iconoclast, Husain -- who still walks barefoot in

salutation of the days when he began his career hand-painting

billboards for Bollywood films -- departs so far from the

conventional in "Meenaxi" that even a storyline is barely

discernible.

 

Instead, Meenaxi appears as "avatars" (incarnations) in the effete,

jaded mind of Nawab -- first as the Hyderbadi purveyor of perfumes,

then as a comely activist for water conservation in the deserts of

crenellated Jaisalmer and finally, as the waitress Maria in a

waterfront café in Prague who aspires to be an actress.

 

"There is a chronological sequence unlike in 'Gajagamini'," explains

Owais. "Gajagamini," (meaning, a woman with the sensuous gait of an

elephant), released four years ago, was Husain's vision of Indian

womanhood as represented by his own muse, the former Bollywood

screen goddess Madhuri Dixit.

 

What weaves the narration together is the versatility of Tabu in her

role as the demanding critic Meenaxi, who goads and torments Nawab

into renewed attempts at writing only to dismiss each essay as

hackneyed and perhaps not worth the candle.

 

If nothing else, Husain succeeds with "Meenaxi" in exploring the

fathomless world of creativity and the torturous relationship

between the artist, his art and his muse. All this in a completely

novel and yet universal way. (END/2004)

 

Source: ISP News, "New Film a Tale of Talents" by Ranjit Devraj

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=22987