About the Still-Life painting - Ab Ke Saawan

About the Still-Life painting inspired by the song - Ab Ke Saawan sung by

Shubha Mudgal

Acrylic on 48’ round Stretched Canvas [2024]

Theme: Feeling energised and inspired, feeling carefree and bindass,

feeling courageous to follow our dreams, feeling optimistic, feeling refreshed,

happy and joyful, Love for the rains.

The round canvas tells us that the feeling of joy that the rains bring is universal.

The grey background is meant to evoke the feeling of cloudy skies and the

yellow umbrella welcomes the monsoon showers.

While the umbrella is all encompassing and protective, it allows us to look out

into the world and explore opportunities. 

I like the song - ‘Ab Ke Saawan aide base…beha jaaye rang mere chunar se’

from the 1999 Hindi music album with its foot tapping rhythm. It has the ability

to make the listeners forget their troubles and just enjoy the moment.

Classical singer Shubha Mudgal’s joyful smiling face from the music video is an

instant recall. I read somewhere that in creating this music album she wanted

to bring good music out of concert halls and to the ears of every music lover in

the country. How apt that she chose such an unforgettably energetic song to

do so! It goes to show the universal love for rains.

The doll, Penn-Naari - 'Penn"means 'Girl' in Tamil and 'Naari' means 'Lady' in Hindi, represents Shubha Mudgal in her quintessential red saree as she enjoys the rains. The memorable lyrics from the song make good book titles.

The sparrows represent you and me as people who feel joyful during the

monsoon season and who look forward to it every year as the bringer of new

hope and prosperity.

Set up on a Wooden table outdoors, this Still-Life painting is meant to bring the

feeling of being outside during the rains, indoors.

The vacant spaces within the canvas are the meant to silence the noises of the

world outside and allow us to hear the ones inside our heads more clearly.