Atul Dodiya's moments from Indian cinema

In a suite of 24 paintings, the artist freezes moments from 1960s-70s films such as 'Anand' and 'Padosan'

- Avantika Bhuyan

At the Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, one is greeted with a mixed sense of the familiar and the novel. The 24 oil paintings on display, as part of the exhibition Dr.Banerjee In Dr. Kukarni's Nursing Home And Other Paintings (2020-2022), evoke a feeling of nostalgia, featuring frozen moments from Indian films from the 1960s-70s. You can recognise the silhouette of Amitabh Bachchan from Anand, Soumitra Chatterjee walking away in Kapurush, and, in the only film from an earlier period, Nargis as Rita playing the piano in Awara. Yet there is a sense of mystery to the scenes-the protagonists are shown with their backs turned, faces covered, often suspended in motion. The play of light, shadow and colour adds immense depth to the scenes painted by Atul Dodiya.

When you move beyond body language, you start noticing other details in the setting you may not have noticed in the film. In Aarti In Office, which features Madhabi Mukherjee in Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar, you begin to observe the poster on the wall about a knitting machine, the weighing scales, the texture of the curtains and the stance of a man looking back at Aarti. Each work comes with detailed captions, mentioning the actor, the name of the character they are essaying and the film title. When taken out of context if one were not to look at the captions and were to dissociate the scenes from the films-the paintings become a storyboard of their own. It feels like one is going through a blown-up contact sheet of Dodiya's own film. Viewers can create their own narrative based on how they navigate the show.