Kunal Basu Photography
Personal
A Social Experiment by Kunal Basu & Kruti Kothari As Indians, we worship 330 million gods, goddess, demi-gods, demons, saints... when we wake up; sneeze, before and after we bathe, in sickness, in happiness, celebrations, rather all walks of life. Would it be as magical and fascinating to see these supernatural beings actually walking around us? Will they blend into our day to day mundane lives or stand out as a threat to us and our mortal, expendable life?
Rambha - Apsaras (the celestial nymphs) were considered the daughters of delight in the celestial world for their bewitching beauty. Rambha was the queen of these Apasaras. She was known for her dancing and love-making skills in the court of Gods. So, in our frame we have tried to capture her dancing stature and her mesmerizing beauty.
Kamdev - He is more popularly known as the God of love across the world. He is a demi -god who is in charge of inciting lusty desires and the cause of procreation.
Urvasi - Urvasi was another celestial maiden who was considered the most beautiful amongst all the celestial Nymphs. Urvasi was the only one who fell in love with a mortal called Pururava and was cursed to live with the mankind. Eventually, she gets bored with her mere mortal existence and goes back to her place in the heavens, leaving behind her distraught lover.
Indra - In our mythology Indra is the supreme ruler of all the gods. He was the god of war, thunder and storm. He was also the greatest of all the warriors, who fought against all evil and brought about order in the cosmos.
Shakuntala - She was the daughter of sage Vishvamitra and Apsara Meneka. Vishwamitra, angered by loss of the virtue gained through his many hard years of strict ascetism, distanced himself from the child and mother to return to his work. And Meneka left her newborn in the forest. When she was born she was surrounded by birds and animals. And she was named Shakuntala from Shakunta in Sanskrit the one who is protected by birds.
Narad Muni - the divine sage who had the ability to visit distant, material as well as spiritual worlds. He played a mediator amongst the worlds he travelled to bring about solutions to problems.
For me surrealism has always been a source of inspiration to manifest style out of the box. It's even more fascinating to create something surreal, using elements that are distinctly real and relatable. (continued...)
While visiting a family friend, sitting in their living room I noticed a large cabinet filled with decorative items, cups, trophies, framed family photos and images of several Gods. Amongst all that was a couple of old barbie dolls stacked in the corner. Even though those dolls were totally out of place in the cabinet, they still managed to look ethereal and special. (continued...)
Taking that moment further this project tries to portray the same, blending surreal, stylized images of dolls with mundane surroundings. The combination of both created a series of individual stories, trying to portray and mystify the popular culture of beauty.