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Bengaluru restaurant gives Ravi Varma's paintings a sinful twist

Weird Gimmick to Promote Business
Author
Bengaluru, First Published Aug 18, 2016, 4:45 AM IST

With a pub opening up at every street corner of India's party hungry silicon valley, Bengaluru's entrepreneurs have to constantly up their ante with social gimmicks to create a unique ambience for tipplers.

 

Located on MG Road, casual dining restaurant The Permit Room found an "artistic" way to intrigue their customers and keep them guessing "Is that right?". The restaurant walls are decked up with digitally-altered versions of Raja Ravi Varma's paintings which showcase royal ladies with liquor bottles and cigarettes in hand have been heavily criticised on social media. 

 

 

A Facebook post speaking of the restaurant's marketing gimmick invited a lot of comments, both positive and negative.

 

"This is in very bad taste and a disgrace to Ravi Varma. Though this kind of distortions has taken place in western art, better not to be encouraged here," commented former president of Karnataka Lalithakala Academy Chi Su Krishna Setty

 

Another miffed Karnataka resident Jayaprakash Sumana wrote, "Is there not any punishment in the law for this kind of vulgarity?"

 

However, some who commented on the post had a fresh perspective on the whole issue.

 

"I don't think these are as worse as Belur and Halebeedu shilpaass (sculptures)? Go and condemn those first than these. Just because bottles are there in women's hand you can't say gyan (lecture) about samskrithi (culture). Don't guys drink alcohol? If men drink it then why should you have a problem if women are painted with their drinks? Learn to appreciate the talent of drawing and get some life," commented by Jess Miranda.

 

Another comment by Beesu Suresha said, "Ravi Varma himself has done this kind of things. it is called Serigraph. it is called calendar art. in the later days, it was called Indian Pop Art. Cartoons have been made using pop art. the hotel people have also done something similar to this."

 

Artist Mahendra commented, "Ravivarma had sold copyrights of his paintings to the British for 5-6 thousand rupees. And also copyright cannot be enforced for art which is more than hundred years old."

 

In 1901, Raja Ravi Varma sold copyrights of his paintings to a German printing technician Schleicher. According to the Indian Copyright Act 1957, paintings older than 60 years do not hold any copyrights and are free for reuse.

 

Varma's painting have always been a centre of attraction when it came to criticisms. Many British companies had used oleograph (a print textured to resemble an oil painting) versions of Varma's paintings such as Jatayu Vadha, Gangavatharana and Birth of Shakunthala as product endorsements.

 

Art critic and author Deepanjana Pal, in her book The Painter: A Life of Ravi Varma, said, “Varma's paintings are seen as too mannered, too Hindu, too literal, too melodramatic”.

 

But his paintings are appreciated by many European artists. His works are considered to be as examples of the fusion of European techniques with an Indian sensibility. It has been said that Varma was in a constant search for Indian aesthetics through his art.

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