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The powerloom factories might have been the only available option
for the Malegaonians, the deprived people of the Muslim dominated
textile town in North Maharashtra. Yet the amount earned after
working in these factories was sufficient till a few decades ago to
make one’s end meet easily. This perhaps is the reason why the town
has surprising number of poets, laureates, scholars and artists who
would work in these factories like a petty labourer during the day
and then till late in the evening would indulge themselves in
creative activities.
Rasheed Artist is one among these people in Malegaon, who despite
all odds went on to achieve such a position, which is difficult for
many even under most favourable conditions. Hanging against the
walls of the main halls inside the plush bungalows owned by the
dignitaries in India as well as in various other countries in the
world, Rasheed Artist’s paintings are the point of attraction for
visitors since many years. Fabulous achievement indeed! However the
journey that led to these walls was not easy and for Rasheed Artist
it needed a matchless and unprecedented effort since his childhood.
Malegaon in the sixties though had quite a good number of schools
the management during those difficult days could hardly find a good
drawing teacher. Under these circumstances having a professional
artist to teach the art of painting to the students using watercolor
was beyond one’s imaginations. However Rasheed Artist was resolute.
He was just 15 but when he failed in fulfilling the strong desire
for the art in the corridors of the education campus, he decided to
quit the education. “It was my craze for paintings that forced me to
drop out of the school in the early age”, he recalled.
Holding the brush in one hand and the color box in the other, he
began roaming here and there to satisfy his lust for the art. It was
then that Wad Saheb, who used to travel different parts of
the country as part of his plan for talent-search, as Rasheed Artist
described the renowned artist from Shimla and a Director in Camel,
the stationary giant famous for manufacturing pencils, watercolor
and other stationary items till recently, came to Malegaon. “He
visited Malegaon for consecutive years in the seventies, shared the
valuable tips with the students like us and arranged painting and
drawing competitions to encourage us”, Rasheed Artist said before
adding, “In his second visit to Malegaon in 1968, I won the
competition. Wad Saheb was thrilled watching the improvement I had
attained in one year.”
In Wad Saheb, Rasheed Artist found a mentor. But he was not a lord
and further continuation by now had become unbearable for his
parents. To bear the expenses hence he began working in a local
powerloom factory along with his father without of course sharing
hardly any money with him for the regular household needs. Instead
he would work for three or four days in a week and the moment he
would get some cash would rush to Mumbai in his humble and very
simple attire that is part of his persona even now and would wander
around the art galleries.
“Jahangir and Taj Art Galleries in Mumbai were my favorite hunting
grounds”, he recalled. His encounters with the masters of the time
including the legendaries Jahangir Sabhawala and Sarvayya at these
galleries are still the precious moments of his life. “My comments
and discussions would make them dumb. They could not believe a
humble looking person like me had such a sound knowledge of canvas
paintings.”, he said.
In 1970 he permanently moved to Mumbai. At V. Shantaram’s Mumbai
Central Film Department, he started working on banners, sketches and
art works for the upcoming films. He was earning reasonably well
now. But earning was never in his priority list. He decided to leave
Mumbai and return back to Malegaon. In the hometown once again, his
talent received a surprising turnaround. “Innovation and creativity
have always been my passions. Back in Malegaon I began working on
the popular couplets of Urdu poets and tried to portray them in my
paintings”, he recalled.
There was no looking back after that. He soon acquired perfection in
transferring the couplets over the canvas with amazing
interpretational skills. Hundreds of the canvas paintings portraying
the couplets by the poets like Ghalib, Feraque, Meer, Majrooh, Rahat
Indori, Shabina Adeeb, Parvin Shakir and others were ready in quick
succession. Subsequently it became customary for the Malegaonians to
gift Rasheed Artist’s paintings to the dignitaries who would visit
the town.
While the one gifted to veteran musician Naushad painted on the
famous couplet Aabadiyon main dasht ka
manzar bhi ayega; Guzroge shaher
se to mera ghar bhi ayega
is still greeting the visitors in his hall, Shabana Azmi has put the
one presented to her father Kaifi Azmi portrayed on Aik woh keh
jinko fikre nashaib o faraz hai; Aik hum keh chal pade toh behr haal
chal pade in her office. Majrooh Sulatnpuri was lucky to get two
paintings. Of these two, the one on Sutoone daar pe rakhte chalo
saron ke charaag; Jahan talak yeh sitam ki siyah raat chale is
in Canada and the other on Phir koi masloob hua sare rahe tamnna;
Aawaze jaras pichle pahar taiz bahut hai is part of the splendid
collection at Dubai Urdu Library.
Simultaneously Rasheed Artist also perfectly worked on portraits of
the people he loved the most. They included the freedom fighters,
world leaders, artists and poets. When Dilip Kumar visited Malegaon
in 1980, he was thrilled to see his portrait. The portrait presented
to him is now greeting the people at his Bandra residence. The
portraits of Irani leader Ayatollah Khomeini and Mirza Ghalib
presented to Ferhad Parizaad of the Iranian Cultural Centre in
Mumbai in 1985 are in Iran.
Today Rasheed Artist is the ultimate and globally recognized name
when it comes to canvas paintings. In fact he is perhaps the only
person in the Indian sub continent who portrays the Urdu couplets
over the canvas with such a sound interpretational skills. Yet he
has few more dreams in his life. “Apart from writing a book on
Sketching and Painting, it’s my dream to transfer the history of the
Urdu Ghazals from Ameer Khusroo till date over the canvas”, he said
in a determined tone.
Rasheed Artist at this stage of his life is finding it easier to run
the expenses of his family. However to run his dream project is of
course an expensive affair. Moreover looking at him who resolutely
turned down the offers from the London and Australian Art Galleries
for the auction of his paintings, it seems impossible for him to
compromise for the sake of funds needed to work on these projects.
Yet one thing is certain. The stubborn in him would not let him sit
idle. It would be really interesting to see how he achieves these
targets.
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