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Making a statement (Clockwise from top right:) Mixed media by Ram Rahman, oil on canvas by George K. and two works by Alexander Zachariah.

He is a name to cash in on. Because he is the man who transformed the face of Indian Railways by turning it into a profit making venture. He is the man who got thunderous applause from management students in England where he delivered a lecture on management skills. He is Lalu Prasad Yadav, who even found his way to textbooks after one of the Indian Management Institutes introduced a case study on his work in the Ministry for its business students. If ‘Lalu dolls’ ingratiated him with the kids when they hit the market some time ago, his catchy slogans like Jab tak samose main aloo rahega, tab tak Bihar main Lalu rahega served for perfect image recall.

And image is the operative word in an ongoing exhibition in New Delhi curated by art consultant Sharan Apparao on this political enigma, a cartoonist’s delight. The exhibition, Dust to Dust – readings, writings and art inspired by the origins and paradigm shift on the image of Lalu Prasad Yadav, features artistic impressions of a number of known names, including Alexander Zachariah, Alexis Kersey, Benith Parciyal, George.K, Ram Rahman, Romi Chopra, Ruchira Gupta, Surya Singh, Viren Tanwar and Werner Dornik.

The multi-disciplinary exhibition of photographs, installations and canvases offers both delightful and thought-provoking moments. However, a few works may not find a direct connection with people unless they have read Lalu’s poems. For instance, a canvas painted white by Surya Singh reads, ‘Jahan Par Pyar Likha Hai, Vahan Sadak Likh Do’. It bears Lalu’s signature at the bottom, above which a mound of cow dung is pasted. Another white canvas bears Lalu’s typical signature in mixed English and Hindi, which is a visual delight, nonetheless.

The work that makes you laugh is that of well-known multi-media artist Ram Rahman. In his installations, he treats Lalu as Krishna and makes him sit inside a temple. His two hands turn into a seesaw as one moves the key stuck to the shrine drawer. So when you pull the key, one of his hands ‘picks up’ L.K Advani, while the other one ‘lowers’ and guards a locked box. “The reference here is to the arrest of Advani in Bihar during his rath yatra. No leader could dare to do that,” says Rahman. And there is more in it. A boy is seen milking a cow while a lottery ticket with ‘Radha’ stamped on it is stuck on a platform. “As Lalu is Krishna, having many cows, the lottery ticket has to be Radha,” says the creator laughing.

If Werner Dorik’s photographs capture facial expressions of middle class men, women and children through the window of an Indian train, George K’s oil on canvas portrays a bare child standing against a slogan reading ‘jab tak samose main aaloo rahega…” In his other canvas, an impoverished girl stands bewildered against the backdrop of a slogan that reads, ‘Can you see me?’

Alexander Zachariah’s digital painting on paper has a Lalu look-alike waiting for his train and sipping tea in a ‘kullhar’ — the clay cup Lalu initiated in the trains for economy and environment reasons. This picture faces another one reading ‘Train 3045 is running late by four, three, two hours’ — an indication of the state of affairs of our railways at one point of time.

Says Sharan, whose kullhar installation is part of the exhibition, “These days people have forgotten to smile. I just wanted to bring that smile back. There is no charismatic leader like Lalu who can inspire an exhibition full of smiles.” The exhibition at Apparao Gallery is on view till January 30.

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