N itish Bharti tells stories with sand. There’s an air of suspense as he takes to the stage at the luxurious Kingsley boutique.
Holding up fistfuls of sand, he scatters it around him with a dramatic flourish. Music plays in the background as Nitish starts creating images with sand, in sync with the beat. “The core of this art form is the transition from one story to another. I tell a story through sets of images, which I keep creating through the duration of my performance,” he explains.
A sand animation artist, Nitish specialises in what’s called ‘lyrical sand animation’. The preparation for this begins well ahead of the performance, where he comes up with snatches of songs pertaining to a theme. The lyrics and his sand creations have to adhere, to weave the complete story. “For example, if I have to showcase a life that’s full of ups and downs, for the parts that talk about hope I’ll choose a song like ‘Aashayein’, and when I am depicting hardship, it’ll be ‘Yeh honsla kaise jhuke’ or something on those lines.”
Sand animation began in Spain by an artist called Ilana Yahav in 2008. “In 2009, I saw Ilana’s work on YouTube and was fascinated. Around that time, I took part in a regional talent show in Mumbai and tried out sand animation there,” says Nitish. The tools he primarily banks on for this are his fingers and imagination. “You also need a light box on which to create your art. I initially used a regular sunmica sheet. When I performed on India’s Got Talent in 2010, the production team there helped me create a light box,” he says.
Nitish made it to the top four in the reality show. Most audiences remember the episode where he depicted cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s life — his early cricketing days, the World Cup victory, his illness and recovery. The cricketer, who was present at the set as one of the judges, was moved to tears, and Nitish received a standing ovation. Though the artist missed out on the title, he did win recognition and an enthusiastic fan following.
Offers to perform started pouring in. And soon, this lecturer of maths and accounts was so caught up with the art form that he eventually gave up teaching and took to sand animation full time. He woke up creating images and went to bed doing the same. “I used to live in a small chawl in Mumbai, and half the space would be occupied by the light box, which measures four ft by three ft,” says the 26-year-old. Gradually, with his savings, he and his family moved into a house of their own. In 2015, he was a semi-finalist at Asia’s Got Talent . “I am also the only sand animation artist who’s film got nominated at Cannes for the Best Short Film category in 2015. It was titled Save Mother Earth and was about the environment and Nature.”
Since then, Nitish has designed the production logo for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s company, and it plays before each of the director’s films. He’s also created a video for SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) on the occasion of their completing 25 years; it’s his most elaborate work so far, he says. “I get a lot of enquiries about this art form and people want to learn how to do it. But my schedule is hectic. I have shows three to four times a week and I travel constantly on work. Sand art has taken me to the U.K., U.S., Europe, Asian countries...,” says Nitish, who now has a 15-member team working with him. Together, they conceptualise and create performances.
People assume that sand art is easy, but when you’re doing a live act, you can’t do touch-ups, says Nitish. For someone who draws such elaborate pictures, Nitish has never been trained in art. As a seven-year-old, one of his school teachers had suggested to his parents that he be sent to art class. The fee was Rs. 500 and his family couldn’t afford it. The self-taught artist wished to attend classes at Sir JJ School of Art or Rachana Sansad in Mumbai, but that didn’t quite materialise. But, it doesn’t matter, he says. ““I don’t require classes any more,” he adds with a confident smile.
Sand matters
The sand Nitish uses is a mix from the beaches of Puri and Tarkarli. These beaches have perfect beige sand and that reflects well on screen when Nitish does shows. His team procures the sand and refines it. Nitish always keeps 100 kg of sand ready.
