Breathing life into wood

An artist is one who gives life to his/her imagination. To what extent the creation resembles the imagination, depends upon his/her skill. One who sees Ramu Madavana’s sculptures will understand in the very first instance that he is immensely talented and has the ability to fine-tune his imaginations in a way that makes his creations look real.

It was very natural for Ramu as he was destined to make sculptures. He says, “I belong to a family of sculptors and therefore I took up the same means for livelihood. However, I like to approach the art in a different way. I feel that I am blessed to be an artist and that if I have a talent to create things, why not do it in a different style. I, therefore, thought of concentrating on a single item for making sculptures. I have carved almost 200 sculptures, all of which have been made out of wood. I specialise in wood sculptures.”

Ramu, who hails from Cherai, a coastal village in Ernakulam district, had been making sculptures of idols ever since he started the business. However, he, a diehard Mohanlal fan, always wanted to make a sculpture of the actor. It was after watching the trailer of Lal’s upcoming movie Odiyan that he thought of making a wooden sculpture of the actor in the look he had adopted for the movie. Ramu has finally finished the sculpture in a single log of wood after a hard work of one and a half month. He had never thought of gifting it to the actor. However, Ashin, who works for an organisation that honours craftsmen and artists, got in touch with Ramu after knowing about his talent. Ramu gifted Mohanlal’s sculpture to Aashin for his support. It was Aashin who thought it would be a great encouragement for an artist like Ramu to be able to gift his creation to his favourite star. Aashin has already started efforts for the same, and has talked to the director and a couple of other people associated with the movie to get in touch with the actor.

The artist also aspires to start an institute for people interested in learning the art of sculpting.

Sharing his views about the same, Ramu says, “Making sculptures out of wood is quite difficult to learn as it requires immense hard work to make them look real. This is the reason why in olden days, wood sculpting was done in temples alone. Also, I am not sure if there are many sculptures who teach the craft. But there are people who are interested to learn wood sculpting. I would, therefore, love to start an institute that helps people learn the art that will in turn help them make it a means of livelihood.”

Aashin, who helps artists like Ramu in achieving a good position in society, are striving hard to bring them to forefront.

“We also aim to equip the institute with every possible facility which is required to train those who aspire to become art directors in movies. We are looking forward to start something which will be helpful to aspiring artists in one or the other way, and we hope to make it into a really through help from the public and other institutions willing to contribute,” he says.