Bid Farewell to M F Husain

M F Husain, now 94, has accepted the citizenship offer from Qatar and with this new development, he has officially ceased to be an Indian. He enjoys the support of a lot of fans and the opposition of a much larger crowd. The nation has conferred the grandest civilian honours on him, the Padma Shree in 1955, the Padma Bhushan in 1973, Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and a nomination to the Rajya Sabha in 1986. Now, the greatest honour the country can favour him with is the Bharat Ratna and it was probable that appeasing politicians would have conferred that also on him sooner or later, had he remained an Indian citizen. Husain sought greener pastures and left without a moment of introspection of whether he owes the nation anything worthwhile.

Maqbool Fida Husain was born at Pandharpur, Maharashtra on Sep 15, 1915. He started off by painting cinema hoardings and luck and strong connections lofted him high to the highest paid painter of India. His single canvases fetched up to Rs. 10 crores. As a young artist, he rebelled against the national traditions established by the Bengal School of Art. His rebellions were strictly restricted among the artists and he was supportive of the British rule in India. He neither participated nor supported the nationalist cause. When the country gained indpendence in 1947, Husain soon realized that his artistic philosophy works best only among the international audience and his first solo exhibition was held at Zurich in 1952. Over the next few years, his works gained acceptance in Europe and the U.S. Since they are successful abroad, they attracted modest enthusiasts in India as well. The quality of his work was always controversial and with the advent of computers, he shifted to that medium for drawing. The mediocrity of the works was largely overshadowed by the dazzling popularity he commanded in Europe. See two of his paintings below.

As he grew old, he became extremely fond of Bollywood actresses, notably Madhuri Dikshit and Tabu. He produced and directed the movie ‘Gajagamini’ as a tribute to Ms Dikshit. He went on to make ‘Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities’, with Tabu in the lead role. His film attracted blasphemical allegations from a section of the community because he had included a large portion of the Quran verbatim in a song in the film. After some of his paintings became controversial in 1996 and accused in a series of criminal cases across the length and breadth of India, Husain emigrated overseas and practically lived in London and Dubai and now, he has become a Qatari national.

In the brief sketch given above, where’s the affinity to anything Indian can we find in Husain’s psyche? Apart from some film actresses, there was no Indian idea which was painted in a glorifying light by his brush (or his mouse, rather?). On the other hand, the country had given him everything it could offer and he opportunistically cashed it fully. The only thing we can give him at this moment is to wish him good bye and a peaceful and happy life in his adopted country. That we do now.