The MF Husain DVD offers a dynamic experience. A sneak preview

In a small office in Gautam Nagar, the epic tale of Maqbool Fida Husain is being given final touches on a computer. The DVD with 41 chapters and costing Rs 495 will be launched by contemporary artist Subodh Gupta at a grand event at the Ashok Hotel today evening.

Husain’s drawings have been brought to life by a team of animators — Suraj Khanna, Aparna Reddy and Imran Ahmad of Millennium Media — while Kamna Prasad, the producer, commandeered the entire venture. Says Prasad: “I went to London and shared the idea with Husainji. He loved it, but said, ‘Three months is too long a time to spend on this project; finish it in a month.’ The restless energy of this avant-garde painter has driven us to complete the project.” Prasad has worked with Husain in the past to bring alive the couplets and poetry of Ghalib.

“Husain has written every word and drawn every image for this. We have rendered each frame, with animation, voiceover and music by Sitaram Singh, in such a way that it keeps the audience enthralled,” says Prasad.

The brush roams on the screen essaying the form of Fazila Bibi, Husain’s wife, while the booming voice of Parvez Alam tells the tale written in the painter’s words. An image — of a house of cards and a king and a queen and a little baby crawling through i — is shown as Husain’s story of marriage and family begins to unfold. “We hope to take this to the masses. We will upload some of the chapters on a website we are creating for Husain,” says Prasad.

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