The Mera Naam Joker song Aye Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo could well have been sung at an art exhibition held at India International Centre, which concluded on Wednesday. The song obviously wouldn’t have been about telling the visitors to be careful while walking but about being observant at the exhibition themed on circus.
A series of sketches by artist Poonam Belvi Sahi titled “Life is a Circus” showed the several metaphors of life hidden in the various acts in circus. But why circus? “Well, we have a home in Goa and we wanted to decorate it and so my daughter suggested that circus would be a good theme. Also, at that moment I realised how it is a dying art. It was such a great form of entertainment and I reckon, kids of this generation have only heard the word and have not seen it. So, I decided to work on this theme also to document the life in circus through my paintings,” Poonam says. And indeed, her artworks took the visitors to a trip down the memory lane and reminded them of the old world charm of circus that was a significant part of their childhood.
But Poonam didn’t rely on her childhood memories only while taking up the task. She read a lot of articles; saw a lot of videos and images on internet. “I have also seen Mera Naam Joker about six-seven times in my life and though my paintings don’t convey anything from the film, the Raj Kapoor-starrer helped me a lot in understanding the theme. It is the only film which has captured the Indian circus convincingly onscreen,” says the painter who has done illustrations in more than a hundred children’s books.
Poonam Bevli Sahi
The painter, who vividly remembers her visits to the circus and how she was amazed to see the various stunts, had created 27 artworks using the medium of poster colours in last one year. “Circus has many metaphors of life hidden in it. When you see the juggler, you can feel how we are all trying to juggle between different roles. Similarly the tightrope walk tells you about striking a balance and ring master tells you to tame your demons,” says the 59-year-old. She says that she didn’t labour very hard to make the sketches, as painting them was sort of catharsis for her. Being a graphic designer, her precision in layouts and using minimal lines while sketching helped her immensely.
There are lessons from circus that she has imbibed in her personal life as well. “I am the best Zumba dancer in my class and now I want to take up Chauu dance. Circus teaches you to be a dare devil and my funda in life has also been to never shy away from following the heart’s desire,” says Poonam, who took up painting professionally in 1999. She calls the exhibition a success as most art lovers liked her easy-on-eye figurative images and could easily connect them with their past.
