My granddaughter Nerjis was 18 month old when she shot my dear friend Manuela Nessi against an iconic Bollywood Mural of Madhubala Anarkali at Chapel Road Bandra ..I always wondered about the artist but I had no clue I asked a person living across the wall but he was no help either .
When Nerjis was 3 year old she shot Mr Amitabh Bachchan a wall painting at Waroda Road it was done by the same artist Ranjit Dahiya .
Many years later I met Ranjit first time when he was painting the wall with another Bollywood icon Mr Devanand Taxi Driver we became friends and I told Ranjit I had documented his art at Flickr ..I am not an artist but I love shooting wall art ..I shot the wall art from Dadar till Mori Road ..walking barefeet .
This evening I was sitting idle at home I decided to visit Ranjit at his house at Chapel Road and his 2 dozen cats ..
He was making tea for me while I had taken jalebis and hot bhajiyas for him..
I started asking him what gave birth to the artist in him..he used to draw actors on his gate he was 7 at Sonepat Haryana ..his humble beginnings on his dads farm taking care of buffaloes than an uncle taught him to pain white wash walls ..he was not crazy about studies and spoke Haryanvi..smattering of English.. but he was a natural born artist he painted Saraswati at a school and began to get a lot of work..highways mostly ad related .
However someone told him to take up Fine Arts and he decided he would give it a try ..he was selected to NID Ahmedabad he went through the tough interviews and his father took a personal loan so he could study he spent 4 years in Ahmedabad .
He took up a job in Delhi than later came to Mumbai about a few years back to work as a graphic designer but he was not happy he was restless he wanted freedom to paint and be himself.. he did his first wall painting of Amitabh Bachchan Sab at Waroda Road .. that Nerjis shot when she was 3 year old .
He did Amit Ji s iconic Deewar painting off Bandstand next to that of Mr Rajesh Khanna .
When he was doing the huge wall painting of Dada Phalke on the MTNL building another Swiss wall artist Maya was painting a huge mural near my house a building that housed the office of Advocate Ashish Shelar Bandra Reclamation and both my granddaughters Marziya and Nerjis were shooting Maya her husband Thomas was documenting his wifes Art....on camera.
However nothing remains of that Art as it was erased last month but Mayas wall is alive on my Flickr set called Painted Walls .. I shot most of the graffiti artists that visited Bandra .. to add color to our dead walls .
Cut back to Ranji Dahiya .. Ranjit was doing the mural of Mr Dilip Kumar and Sair Bano ji above the Shiv Sena Bandra Hill Road Shakha I shot him and his assistants at work.
Ranjit and I became close friends .Ranjit has painted all my mystical sticks about a dozen of them in vivid colors and so my persona as a Sufi Malang carries a part of his Art or should I say Heart.
Ranjits Bollywoor poster Art is on display in America and France ..
So both Nerjis now 6 and Rajit are cosmically connected through my camera..
Ranjit is a very soft spoken person but as a child he was boisterous always getting into trouble he has come a very long way and has made Mumbai his home ..
He is still trying grab a fistful of Sky..
Har Koir Chahta Hai Muthi Bar Asman..
And Nerjis has come back from the Shia mosque she distributed 80 cakes to the children her gift to them on Eid E Mubhaila ..
