I first met this young and ambitious creative individual at a gathering where he was quietly sitting and making pencil sketches of people who were interested in sitting in front of him for seven minutes. And in that time, I noticed, he deftly moved his pencil all over the sheet, occasionally looking up at his model’s face and never used an eraser. Once he had done about 15-odd sketches, the sitting time reduced to three minutes and his sketches got more close to the original.
Impressed, I chatted up M.Kirubaharan, a gifted multi-tasker, who finds it difficult to contain his excitement and interest when it comes to art and creativity.
Partially, he shares, it is to do with his genes given the fact that he comes from a family of artists. But then belonging to one such big family where every sibling is gifted and is into drawing, painting or sketching, parents perhaps tend to take their children for granted.
“Since everybody could draw in my family, my parents did not encourage me much. More so, I was the youngest of five brothers and sisters. They wanted me to take up a profession which would bring in a steady income. But my heart was unwilling to listen. I wanted to be an artist only,” says 23 years old M.Kirubaharan.
As a child too, this Madura Labour Welfare Association School student was always ruled by his imaginary world of colours and images. “My eldest brother was my inspiration. He used to do posters in colours and I used to sit next to him scribbling everything he made, in pencil.”
What started as innocuous sketches by a young boy started firming up in his growing years. And on his own, he digressed into art from waste, vegetable carving, chalk sculpting, creative arts from poster making to canvass painting, winning many prizes at several competitions at all levels from primary to High School.
Low scores in Class X Board exams angered his parents so much that they made this Bal Shree Award winner join the Institute of Hotel Management in Chennai for three year course in catering technology.
But the artist in him refused to die and he took to vegetable carving during his course. “It is a sought after skill in the hospitality industry and I decided to be more innovative cas I was enjoying moving my knife on pumpkins and water melons. If people mostly made caves and roses in beetroot, I carved out a ganesha out of it and it was much appreciated.”
Obviously, his parents gave up on him but he did not give up on his passion. He returned to his hometown and joined The American College for a degree in visual communication. “Given my drawing skills, I am attracted to animation but during my study I realized direction is more powerful and I ended up writing two scripts,” he says.
Well known documentary film director R.P. Amudhan inspired young Kirubaharan when he came to the department for a workshop. Much against his parents’ wishes, he joined him and accompanied him for the shoot of five films during his three years of study. “With him I got totally involved in art and short films,” he says with a longing for joining the Kollywood. And good news has come in as he has just joined as an Assistant Director to Simbudevan.
“My work with him is yet to begin but one day I dream to make a full length art film on my own, which will be more emotional and issue-based,” says this young Madurai boy whose dreams have set him on a long journey.
His mind, he admits, is cluttered with multiple ideas and his fingers always itching to create multiple things. And he doesn’t let either of his aspirations down. He does lot of odd jobs to earn his pocket money but is confident of becoming a film maker on sensitive themes one day. He is already ready with a short fiction of 30 minutes which shows how life style changes make man into a machine.
Earlier, he helped Discovery Channel in filming Jallikattu. “My parents no longer bother me, I think they have tacitly agreed to what I like doing,” he smiles. He is called at various places to do face painting other than pencil sketches and is quite a hit at local gatherings.
An avid film watcher, Kirubaharan minces no words while saying, “I live life on my terms.” When he hates to draw, he even turns into a blacksmith and makes small studs from broken wrought iron pieces. It is difficult to describe this young boy but what he establishes clearly is that only those who dare to dream and defy are achievers. That is why he is our young hero in today’s column.
( Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail to somabasu@thehindu.co.in to tell about someone you know who is making a difference)
