Mumbai’s premier industrialist families — the Ambanis and the Hiranandanis are ardent followers of Shrinathji, an avatar of Krishna whose shrine is in the small village of Nathdwara near Udaipur. While Tina Ambani in her last year’s Harmony art show displayed several works of Pichwai (temple art of Nathdwara), Nita Ambani has also publicly admitted that she is an ardent fan of this art.
When Nita inaugurated a Pichwai show some time ago, she said, “My mother-in-law (Kokilaben) has immense faith in Shrinathji. I too follow that faith and hence love the art of Nathdwara School.” And sister-in-law Tina had said earlier in an interview, “I love going to Nathdwara; we go there quite often. Even Anil goes to seek Shrinathji’s blessings.”
And thanks to the inclination of the Ambanis towards this art form, it has grown to become the city’s favourite. A huge exhibition of Shrinathji’s rich and glamourous portraiture along with Radha-Krishna paintings is being held at the Coomaraswamy Hall for three weeks. On display is the collection of collector Dinesh Thacker.
He says, “Since we inaugurated it, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Not just followers of Shrinathji, but everyone seems to love the works. The Nathdwara school of art has been ignored and not given its rightful position in the past, but now it has started to become commercially viable as well, though it shouldn’t be so as it is art for God. I don’t want to brag, but there are at least twenty visitors in the hall at any time; it’s nice to see such an interest in this art form.”
Dinesh Poddar from Ma Passion just commissioned a huge work of Shrinathji worth Rs 11 lakh and displayed it at Cymroza art gallery. He says, “Art from Nathdwara is the new darling of the city and the credit goes to Tina Ambani’s Harmony art show last year. People noticed it and started taking interest in it.”
Artist Charan Sharma who has painted Shrinathji says, “The jewelled Shrinathji is quite in demand. I have been asked to create quite a few of these for collectors in the city.”
And it’s just not about displaying these works; Mumbai-ites also want to know more about this art form. The renowned Dr Shridhar Andhare, director of LD museum in Ahmedabad, recently conducted an interesting lecture on Nathdwara school of art and it was a packed house.
