Superhero avatar of Lord Hanuman on display at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts

A 25-ft tall sculpture of Lord Hanuman installed near the entrance of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) has been the center of attraction for visitors since it was installed on Monday. The sculpture, made with 26,000 golden brass bells and lit up with lights of different colours, was earlier installed at a south Delhi mall, and now, it is displayed at the IGNCA till April 30.The sculpture is a part of an exhibition titled 'Hanuman - Images Beyond Imagination' by visual artist, painter and filmmaker Charuvi Agrawal. Charuvi tells us that the sculpture is a part of the project on Hanuman that started with a short animation film which was commissioned to her. The sculpture was completed in 2013, and she wanted to display it at the IGNCA then, but she didn’t get permission to display it there as "the members of IGNCA then thought that it was a religious work and they were not sure if they wanted to have it here, but after four years, the members changed and they called me to have this exhibition here." Says Charuvi, "As an artist, it did jolt me a bit when it was not being perceived as an art project but simply as a mythological figure, and it is at times like these that you think that may be you could have made something more secular. But I looked at the positives. When the IGNCA rejected it in 2013, there were four other places who wanted to display it, and after four years, it is the IGNCA that wanted to have this exhibition here."
Charuvi Agrawal (BCCL/ Ranjit Kumar)
Presenting Hanuman as a superhero
Charuvi says that she wanted to present Hanuman as a superhero, in a contemporary avatar. "Hanuman stands for superpowers, he has nav siddhi, so in order to portray that, I wanted to present him as larger than life. I used bells for this installation as bells evoke positive vibrations. When we visit a temple, the first thing we do is ring a bell. I have used these golden bells as in the Ramayan, and in the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman has been described as someone who has a body in gold colour. With this project, I also wanted to challenge whatever has been done before with Hanuman, and reinvent our mythological hero. I wanted to give him a contemporary avatar and not present him just as a religious figure. That’s how Hollywood does it, they get inspired by our mythology and they present it in a different manner and everybody loves it," says Charuvi.
(BCCL/ Ranjit Kumar)
Depiction of Hanuman Chalisa in paintings and animation
Along with the installation, a 13-minute animation film, Sri Hanuman Chalisa, a few paintings and merchandise are a part of the exhibition. Charuvi says, "This project started with a film on Hanuman Chalisa, which came to me as a commercial project when I was at the crux of starting my animation studio, and the producer came with this audio track sung by Amitabh Bachchan and 19 other singers, and they wanted me to translate it into a visual experience. While I was making a film, it occurred to me that the audio track was just for 13 minutes, and who is going to come and see a 13-minute film? India as a market goes to see only 60 or 90-minute films. So I thought, why not conceptualise a show where you also have artworks which originate from the film. If you look at franchises like Star Trek, they have a complete show around the movie, it is like a complete experience. So I wanted to create that complete experience based on Hanuman. I worked primarily on episodes described in the Hanuman Chalisa."
(BCCL/ Ranjit Kumar)
A look at what Lord Hanuman wore
Apart from the installation, Kavad – a wooden cabinet that describes episodes from Lord Hanuman's life through paintings - is an interesting part of the exhibition. "Kavad is a wooden cabinet which originated from the folk art of Rajasthan, and it is usually about four inches in height. My idea was to enlarge them on the lines of a Cabinet of Curiosities (or wonder rooms). Kavad is an amalgamation of folk art of Rajasthan and Cabinet of Curiosities. Even though we have read stories about Hanuman, we haven't seen him, so I thought, why not give him life. We created jewellery inspired by what Hanuman is seen wearing in the movie, and placed that jewellery alongside hand-painted illustrations in cabinets. Kavad has cabinets with Hanuman's crown, belt, necklace and earrings. For example, while Hanuman was going to Lanka to look for Sita, he was carrying Ram’s ring in his mouth, so there is a ring along with that painted image," explains Charuvi.