Shakib is busy with his colours and brushes. He is perched atop a makeshift bamboo ladder attached to the side of a pillar that faces Vivanta by Taj, opposite Hyderabad Public School. Neither is the busy traffic his concern, nor is the height. His eyes and hands are engaged in giving the right shape to Komaram Bheem’s turban.
Shakib will be working on 10 such L&T Metro rail pillars along with 15 other artists from two different agencies specialising in poster paintings. Each one has different themes to paint. The row of pillars in the Begumpet stretch which had a dull look so far will be painted in a bid to beautify them.
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 08-12-2017: (for Metroplus) The bare pillars of metro rail gets decorated with local themes like bathukamma to traditional telangana women. The pillars are first given a fresh coat of white paint and then local painters paint these themes on them. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
More pillars and better are the chance of sticking random posters, painting self ads, slapping ‘wanted’ ‘lost’ leaflets and not to forget those bizarre birthday wishes through posters. However, L&T Metro rail has other plans. Instead of letting the pillars be used for vandalism and made ugly with layers of papers with political agenda being stuck to them, they have decided to give local poster painters a chance to show their creativity.
After taking two sides of the pillar by L&T Metro rail themselves to use as billboards, the sides that face the two sides of the road are being measured and whitewashed. After Metro started its operation a few days ago the bare pillars bore a dull look. Once the white wash is done, pillars are being painted with figurines that range from Telangana Talli to Nirmal paintings, Komaram Bheem to the Nizam, and it is brightening the Begumpet stretch.
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 08-12-2017: (for Metroplus) The bare pillars of metro rail gets decorated with local themes like bathukamma to traditional telangana women. The pillars are first given a fresh coat of white paint and then local painters paint these themes on them. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
Thankfully these paintings measuring 14 feet in height are not so jarring and have a decent colour palette as opposed to the choice of the rainbow palette used in flyovers in Madhapur. Trees with pink and blue barks with black dots don’t just look out of place but make the entire area look silly and tacky. These artists working in Begumpet, however, are trying to make the paintings look real. One of them says, “Our work is to create drama with larger-than-life paintings. The theme is local so we have chosen Gond dance, the famous Nirmal art, birds like parrot and festivals like Bathukamma and Bonalu.”
Surprisingly Surya creative and SK Arts, the two companies that have been commissioned to paint the pillars in Begumpet have stuck to real colours that match the subject. The choice of shade of the colours might be bright like they use for outdoor posters but they are not a mismatch.
So now, instead of pillar numbers it will be easier for people to identify landmarks with themes painted on each pillar.
