Bhaskar Chitrakar: Painting Kalighat Moderns

Rohan Sengupta, Ihaab Syed, Matthew Raj Webb

2023 / 11 minutes
United States / India
Bengali, Hindi with English Subtitles

Bhaskar Chitrakar is one of the last remaining hereditary painters of the renowned Kalighat temple tradition in Kolkata. From his modest home studio, he creates vibrant and sensuous artworks that make their way to global museums and art fairs. This short documentary delves into Chitrakar’s unique painting style and eclectic sources of visual inspiration. He shares his thoughts about the decline in the number of young apprentice painters taking up painting in his community and his hopes for the future of the craft. How has an artistic tradition, once deeply rooted in Hindu religious customs and British colonial patronage, evolved into a medium for modern secular social critique? Chitrakar offers some answers with his characteristic wry humor, taking us behind the scenes of the shifting social and class landscapes of his beloved city, one painting at a time.