Jyoti Bhatt is a true contemporary of Bhupen Khakhar. While Bhupen was born in Mumbai on 10th March, 1934, Jyoti was born just two days later, in Bhavnagar. The two met in their late 20s and remained close friends till Bhupen’s death in 2003.
Jyoti is best known as a painter and printmaker but he is also a photographer par excellence. Through his long career at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Jyoti documented the evolution of what has come to be called the Baroda School of Art. His collection includes some wonderful photographs of Bhupen, who was always a ready model.
These days, with the help of his daughter Jaii, the 92-year-old artist is busy creating a digital archive. In an exclusive interview with journalist Dibeyendu Ganguly at his home in Baroda, Jyoti Bhatt reminisces on his friendship with Bhupen. Excerpts are below:
How did you meet Bhupen?
JB: We met in Mumbai, through Pradyumna Tanna, a poet and a common friend. I remember Sunil Kothari, who was a Chartered Accountant like Bhupen, was also there. Then in 1959, Bhupen came to Baroda and enrolled in MSU, mostly because he wanted formal access to the university’s facilities. I went to study in Italy and the USA for five years while Bhupen was establishing himself in Baroda in the early 60s, but we got back in touch when I returned in 1966.
How did Bhupen evolve as an artist during this time?
JB: One of his early influences was Demi Hunt, an American artist who came to MSU as a Fulbright scholar. Before that, Bhupen was experimenting with quasi-cubism in his paintings. Demi introduced both Bhupen and Vivan Sundaram (another well-known artist of the Baroda School) to a different style. She used popular Indian imagery in her screen paintings, like Andy Warhol and his Campbell soup cans, which appealed to both Bhupen and Vivan.
Those days, artists were either looking to India’s Vedic past or to village art for inspiration. The middle classes, the bourgeoisie, were ignored. This is the class Bhupen chose to focus on. He was not interested in low village art or high Vedic art. He drew inspiration from people who were present around him. He painted from his own life.
Bhupen’s career went into a steep ascent when he came out as gay. In terms of recognition, he left us all behind. Bhupen’s sexuality was always reflected in his paintings, but once he started to talk openly about it, it overshadowed his work. People gave more importance to this aspect than the work itself.
Did Bhupen discuss his sexuality with you?
JB: Not as such. I figured it out from his writings. I knew many of the world’s greatest artists were homosexual, including Leonardo da Vinci, but I was not curious enough to ask Bhupen about it. Besides, you could never tell when Bhupen was joking or serious. Talking with strangers, he would make up fantastic stories of having a wife and son, all the while maintaining a poker face.
I met some of Bhupen’s gay friends, including Vallabhbhai, who was closest to him. Vallabhbhai’s son recently commissioned a book on the relationship between Bhupen and his father. The author, Biren Kothari, came to interview me. The book is out now and I think it makes a significant contribution to Gujarati literature. In the past, articles on Bhupen’s sexuality have always been in English.
You have a large collection of photographs of Bhupen…
I turned to photography in 1967, when Bhupen, Gulam Sheikh and I participated in a seminar on Gujarati Folklore in Mumbai. I became involved in a project to visually document folk art. Bhupen and Gulam travelled with me to tribal areas across the country. Later, Bhupen would call me whenever he needed to photograph his work. For a show in Mumbai, we created a fun catalogue that featured Bhupen as Devdas, as James Bond, as a bodybuilder and as a model for a toothpaste ad.
Bhupen was a playful person and an excellent subject for photography. There is one very funny picture I have of him lying on the grass in Sayaji Gardens, with a sad expression on his face. It seems he had just had a tiff with Vallabhbhai.
Recently, a local gallery had an exhibition of artwork featuring Bhupen as a subject. I made a collage of 12 photographs that I had taken of Bhupen over the years.
You also had occasion to travel with Bhupen?
JB: We were an adventurous lot. Once, six of us, including Bhupen and I, chipped in to buy a second-hand Jeep to travel to Ladakh. We refurbished it, fitted new tyres. I had to drop out at the last minute because I fell ill after drinking water from the Narmada. The others set off, but they did not make it far from Baroda. The Jeep guzzled petrol and they had to keep stopping to refuel. The only one who could drive hurt his back at one of the petrol stations. The Jeep was abandoned and Bhupen finally took a train.
Another time, when Bhupen and I were at an art camp in Delhi, we decided to visit Mathura, Agra, and Fatehpur over a weekend. It was the height of summer, the temperature was 48-degrees and we bought ourselves gamchas (thin cotton towels), which we soaked in water and wrapped around our heads. We were in quite a state by the time we returned. Our eyes looked like little onions stuck to our faces.
Would you say you were one of Bhupen’s closest friends?
JB: I would say Gulam and Sunil Kothari were his closest friends. I was not in the same league. The thing about Bhupen was that he made friends easily, he spread himself thin. He always had people visiting at his house, from Baroda and from outside. I was never that much of an extrovert. Besides, I had my teaching job at MSU.
Were you with Bhupen in his last days?
JB: When his health started failing, I did not see him much. I did not want to intrude and disturb him. I guess that is just the way I am. Towards the end, it was Hitesh Rana of Sarjan Art Gallery who took the responsibility of taking him to the hospital whenever needed. Now I have also been diagnosed with prostate cancer. My doctor says an operation is risky at my age. But I am still able to work, with the help of my students. They look after me.
