“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun”
Such was the power of india's first celebrated artist Raja Ravi Verma. From being india's homegrown god of popular culture to redefining the way we look at women, Raja Ravi Verma has made his presence in every household in india.
From the calendars to films, to brands copying his art for the weirdest of products like cigarettes, alcohol, pan masala, to books and our pooja rooms...Ravi verma is all pervasive.
So lets take a journey down the memory lane when every artist was inspired with his style and every brand tried to copy him.
Old vintage boxes with indian gods and goddesses.
Original Raja rav verma paintings have been displayed at a number of places including the recently concluded Piramal museum of art, Mumbai.
The sheer sensuality of the women calls for a dekho again !
Since times immemorial our pooja books shout his art loud.
Our calendars have been the same since ages not willing to change styles at all !
Books have had Raja Ravi Verma inspired covers before fancy photography, photoshop and photoshoots came into existence.
If you have grown up before the nineties then you would have surely come across one of them either at school , library or could be gift from your relative too !
Come diwali and we all want to burst fire crackers ! Have you ever seen the packaging? Ravi Verma's art has found place there too !
Yesteryears Pear's soap box has a straight edition of ravi verma paintings ! They tried to portray that a woman could be as beautiful if you use the soap ! We have now replaced Aishwarya and katrina with these devis !
Pooja products have been using his art always and will do so till infinity! The agarbatti, sindhur, Kapur, oil etc used in pooja/havan are still packaged in his art.
Modern incense sticks are trying to give away the goddess pictures but the style of imagery still remains the same.
Our kitchen was also not refrained from his art. Everyday life was distinctly painted even on groundnut oil !
Papad ! From bikaneri varieties to the traditional appllam, Papad manufactures have been inspired by gods. Brands like "Ganesh papad", "shree Ram papad", "hanuman papad" have all been cashing on cheap knock offs of the masters work .
I wonder why gutka, beedi , pan masala, khaini etc would use his art ? Probably to remember god before doing anything wrong?
School stationery kept the kids in a happy mood !
The old saffron boxes have always had laxmi / saraswati/ parvati etc painted on them.
Brands like "laxmi cheap Kesar" have been widely popular.
Soap ads also had his art work!
We indians have always been god fearing people. From the endless religions to this country offers to the various festivals that we all celebrate together, our lives sorrows and joys have moved around religion. We lights diyas on diwali and candles for christmas, burns ravan on dusherra and maintain a fast for ramzan. Mythology has always intrigues the people in the country and hence the POPULAR thought has been cashed in rightly by Raja ravi verma truly.
The king of indie pop our lives still revolve around the subjects he painted over a century ago !
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