It’s been just over a year since the great Lata Mangeshkar left the world and while the nation remembers her through her songs, an artiste has paid his tribute through 40 unique paintings of her. Ramkripal Namdeo from Bhopal, a diehard fan of the Nightingale, will showcase the paintings for the first time at the Jamini Roy Gallery in ICCR Kolkata, February 22 to 26. “I have titled the exhibition ‘Chitralatika-14’ as Lata ji’s initial name was Latika and each of my works has miniature drawings inside the bigger work,” says Namdeo. The paintings are mainly in oil.
A chance 15-minute meeting with Mangeshkar in 2014 furthered buoyed Namdeo’s spirits. “Her personal assistant, Mahesh Rathore, helped arrange the meeting at Prabhu Kunj (the singer’s residence) and it remains vividly etched in my mind. What a great personality and yet so simple. She saw my work and commented that it was definitely a difficult piece to do,” said Namdeo. The painting he showed her had almost 900 smaller versions of her tucked in a bigger picture, which the late singer autographed immediately. Over tea, there was also light talk about the works. Namdeo said Lata ji’s younger sister, Usha, who is also known to paint, was present on the occasion but was mostly silent. Many a long-playing disc cover of the songstress have been painted by Usha Mangeshkar, herself a well-known singer.
‘Chitralatika-14’, the exhibition, will be at the Jamini Roy Gallery in ICCR Kolkata, February 22 to 26
Ramkripal Namdeo met the singer in 2014 and it inspired him to work harder
A painting by the artist from Bhopal
By strange coincidence, Namdeo was present in Mumbai when the singer passed away. “The day before was Basant Panchami and I was exhibiting my work (around the singer) at a gallery. And the next day she passed away. I joined the funeral procession and I consider myself fortunate that I could see her one last time,” says Namdeo.
Asked to name his favourite Lata songs, Namdeo said it’s really difficult to choose. “Still I would say Lag jaa gale, Naam gum jayega, Jo tum todo piya and Ankhiyon ko rehne do are some of the songs I really love to hear time and again,” said the artist, who is also a Limca Book record holder for his unique style of painting.
