As a nine-year-old, Burhan Nagarwala was awestruck by his moves; at 15, it was the pop icon’s nonchalance that swept him off his feet. Now 22, emotions of similar intensity engulf him. Only this time round, the intensity is the same but the emotions differ. From awe, they have been transformed to grief. The sudden demise of Michael Jackson has created a void in the creative realm of music and also in the lives of his fans; Nagarwala being one of them, is no exception. But unlike others, Nagarwala chooses not to keep his emotions bottled up in a remote corner of his heart. He spreads it on canvas. So, when 10 days ago, he decided to make portraits of his rock idol, he felt it was just a humble offering of a fan to the rock star he has always admired.

This final year diploma student of fine arts from the Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya has been making portraits of the different stages of the rock god’s life for his personal collection, . “I grew up listening to the musical scores rendered by Jackson. They don’t really care about us, Beat it are the songs of my life too. Whenever I painted, I had these songs playing in the background. He has always been an inspiration for everything I did. So when he left all his fans heartbroken, I thought I will pay him tribute through my art,” says Nagarwala who has already completed two portraits and is working on the third.

... contd.