Sachin portraits by Dinda, Jogen on Eden tickets

KOLKATA: An intense and thoughtful countenance, bordering on a meditative expression, but with a hint of a smile. It is as if the Master Blaster is getting ready to walk to the crease for his penultimate tryst with Test cricket. This is how Sanatan Dinda will paint Sachin Tendulkar on the ticket for his 199th match at the Eden Gardens.
Along with veteran Jogen Chowdhury, Dinda has been commissioned by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) to pay a unique pictorial tribute to the legend who plays his last Test at the Eden Gardens from November 6.The artists’ paintings of the master will be printed on the tickets along with three other shots of Tendulkar, each of which will find place on the season ticket for the Test.
Painting the genius is not much of a challenge for Dinda who has been close to him for the last six years. . “I know his subtle expressions, mood swings and body language. The way he laughs, makes a point or coils up. I have also seen him concentrate on a match eve, when he focuses intensely on the job ahead. So, depicting him on the canvas will not be too tough,” said Dinda.
Although he has been toying with a few ideas, Dinda said he has finally settled on a non-action theme for the portrait. It will be an extension of his ‘Yugpurush’ series under which Dinda has painted Gautam Buddha, Swami Vivekananda, Lord Krishna, Chaitanya Dev and Nityananda Mahaprabhu. “Tendulkar, too, is the God of cricket. Like the other personalities in my series, he is a human being with unearthly qualities. So, I don’t need to put him on a cricket field, armed with a bat and pads. Just the calmness of his face and the resolve that comes through in his expression are enough to convey his genius,” explained Dinda.
Recalling his first meeting with Sachin in 2008, Dinda said the master blaster asked for a Buddha portrait from his ‘Yugpurush’ series. “He was leaving the next morning. I said yes, but didn’t have the painting ready. I stayed up all night to get it done and handed it over to him at the hotel the next morning. He was ecstatic and thanked me profusely. Then he clutched the portrait and ran towards the team bus. ‘I will meet you the next time I am in Kolkata’, he turned and told me,” Dinda recalled.
Later that year, Tendulkar kept his promise. He visited Dinda’s studio and bought several paintings. “I asked him to paint and he was taken aback. Even though he is a collector, Sachin said he had never painted. He tentatively put a few strokes on the canvas. Then, I filled them up in my own way and he was very impressed. ‘How do you manage to do such non-figurative work so fast?’ he asked me. Sachin is well acquainted with the basics of art,” said Dinda.
Chowdhury, on the other hand, said he has a few ideas up his sleeve, but won’t disclose them now. “I have been asked to do a Sachin painting that will go on the ticket. It has to be a special one for this is a rare occasion. I am working on it,” he said.
The CAB believes the painter-duo will turn the tickets into collector’s items. “They are great artists and will do something extraordinary. There will be three more pictures, one each for the five match days,” said CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey.