Women    
Women in Raja Ravi Varma Mold

It is Indi-pop time on MTV. The song by rising star Phalguni Pathak opens with a svelte woman walking out of a painting. What follows is a seductive unveiling to the number 'Meri Chunar Ud Ud Jaaye' (My veil keeps flying away). The painting is by none other than the famed and damned Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906). His portrayal of Shakuntala is the inspiration for the pop music number.

The women painted by the Raja have never been as much in demand in the art market as they are today. The revival took place in the 1990s with international auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's showing a great deal of interest in his works. Then came the big-time art dealers and small antique shops selling crude representations of his works or prints supposedly credited to the Chitrashala Press founded by him.

What all these people are catering to is an immense interest in the works of the Raja. Clearly it is 'in' to possess a Ravi Varma. If not in the original form then even a pirated one will do. In fact, Varma is one artist who was the greatest victim of piracy in his lifetime.

Ask Almona Bhatia, who thrives on selling prints and oleographs by Varma on the web, on what she thinks of the representation of women by the artist and she is quick to gush, "They are just wonderful: His Mohini, his Damyanti, his Shakuntala and so many others. He paints a woman as the seductress and temptress. What more can one ask for? And these sell like hot cakes."

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