Kalam in 84 portraits, in a single frame

A palette knife artist has drawn 84 portraits of former President A P J Abdul Kalam in different postures in a single frame in a bid to enter into the Limca Book of World Records.

K. Muthupandian, who had never drawn a portrait of Kalam in his ten-year-long career, struck with the idea after reading about the late leader after his death. His wife Sumathi, a school teacher, was a great inspiration, he said. A drawing master at the Alagappa Model Higher Secondary School, Muthupandian began drawing the portraits on August 15 and made them ready for unveiling on the occasion of Kalam’s birth anniversary on Thursday.

Alagappa University Vice-Chancellor S Subbaiah, who unveiled the portrait as part of the ‘Youth Awakening Day’ celebration on the campus here, lauded the artist for his totally different work.

All the 84 portraits, depicting Kalam’s demise at the age of 84 years, looked differently in the single 8x4 size frame. In the final portrait, the leader is seen bidding adieu “walking back in the mist with hands down.”

He drew the portraits in acrylic paints on a canvass surface, bringing out innumerable colours. He has depicted Kalam as a young college student in the first few portraits. “It was a challenging work and I have brought out all facets of the former President,” Mr Muthupandi told The Hindu .

After school hours, he had spent five hours a day till midnight every day during the last two months to complete the task, he said.

Paintings of Lord Ganesh in different styles using palette knives had won him huge accolades. But “I consider this work my lifetime achievement,” Mr Muthupandian said.