Capital Carver

Making monumental statues of political giants is Ram V. Sutars forte; his tallest yet the Statue of Unitywill be unveiled in a couple of weeks.

- Sneha Bhura

In the 1990s, veteran sculptor Ram V. Sutar studied the many photographs of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; he visualised the leader of India’s nationalist movement as a brisk walker. “Like he had a goal in mind, which he had to quickly achieve,” says the 93-year-old artist, sitting in a rather homely corner of the sprawling 2,000sqm studio in Noida. “I realised he should be portrayed as this strong, decisive personality who looks straight ahead while walking.” Ram was referring to the 1998 statue in which the dhoti-clad Patel was depicted striding ahead. This walking style, however, could not be structurally replicated on the Statue of Unity. At almost 600 feet, it will be the world’s tallest statue when it is unveiled on October 31 at Sadhu Bet, an island in the Narmada river, near Vadodara, Gujarat.

But Ram is not too fussy about this compromise. He knows he is the last word for monumental sculptures in the country, specifically those of political figures. He is the principal sculptor behind sculptures of three political giants—Statue of Unity, at around 3,000 crore; the world’s biggest equestrian statue—Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his steed, in the Arabian Sea, with his sword piercing the sky at 397 feet; and the tallest statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar (350ft) to be installed at Dadar, Mumbai, for 425 crore. It is no surprise then that Ram is a great admirer of Mount Rushmore, which has massive faces of four US presidents carved on solid granite in South Dakota. “The height of the Mount Rushmore heads is 60 feet. The head of Sardar Patel on the Statue of Unity has a height of 70 feet,” he rubs it in with an unmistakable glint of triumph in those sparkling grey eyes. But, he still wants to make a Mount Rushmore-like memorial to Shivaji in his home state of Maharashtra.