Sunday Afternoon!

KHARGOSH

Title and credits done for a movie called ‘Khargosh’ (Rabbit), directed by Mr. Paresh Kamdar and produced by Mr. Rishi Chandra. He wanted all the credits and title in Hindi which suits the film’s tone and flavour.





Director’s own word:
“It is really too good! I will go for this option. It has got everything. The restrained flourish of the tails– their ends merging into the black; the texture within the letters, their complex tonality and its position–right toppish also dynamises the black background. All these together create terrific complexity which is very reflective of the complexity that Bantu* experiences in his journey in the film. Very Good Work!!! THANKS!!!”
* Protagonist of the film.

LEEHKIN WISHES NIKHEEL

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEAR NIKHEEEEL---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(though its belated, but why not celebrate own birthday whenever you want to?)
Reason behind posting this is I gave some thoughts to what I want in life which is just reaching 30. No, its not any philosophical thoughts where I found ‘Sukhee jeevan ke dus nuskhe’ but practical wishes in life. Don’t know if they will get fulfill or when will they get accomplished, lets see!
* Travel to all seven wonders of the world, or at least travel all over India—each and every corner of it.
* Should confidently called myself Graphic Designer
* Nice to everyone.

BHUGOL

Film title done for Chaitanya Modak’s classroom project during NID.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bhugol
15 min. | Mini DV | Colour | 2005 | INDIA
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'Bhugol' may literally translate to geography but it also directly states that the world is a sphere. The quest for one man to find the edge of the earth is the escape of another. Yet this journey itself is a scenic and timeless humanscape which reflects and blends into the vast geography it navigates.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Festivals/Awards:
• Mumbai International Film Festival, India, 2006• Vikalp Mumbai screening of Best student Films, India, 2006• Kara International Film Festival, Pakistan, 2006

IPL Fever II

Ink, Paper and Letters

IPL Fever I

Ink, Paper and Letters...

Switching the boredom of switches

Art–Pet

Is this काष्ठशिल्प (wooden sculpture) or is this just a natural phenomenon? I found this, when I was having lunch under the tree in NID's Heritage campus, during summer time, when college mess was closed. I was cleaning up the space before sitting and spotted the wooden beak peeping from beneath the grass and got curious. I took some time to ascertain the bird like wood or wood like bird. For a moment, I thought it was a dead bird and after a closer inspection, I thought it must be someone's missing art. Amazed and puzzled, I had a quiet lunch with the bird and without thinking further, I carried it along with me. I cleaned it, varnished this 'art–pet' of mine to prevent it from termites. Now its lying in my collection showcase.
I still wonder about its origin and those questions remained the same till date.
What is this? How is it possible? Who is the person behind this. I have no answers but I acknowledge the miracle and creator of this masterpiece.

ELEPHANT PROCESSION

My parents recognized my inclination towards art at an early stage (instead of spoiling drawing room walls, its better spoiling books with official permission!) and started sending me to the drawing teacher Mr. Sudhakar Chandorkar for training. Later, I started participating in many drawing–painting competitions. He and my mother used to teach in the same school. So they used to communicate about upcoming competitions regularly. It was wise of my parents and my teacher to send me for those competitions, where I was exposed to other students’ talent. I also achieved the confidence of visualizing ideas in a short time. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I did not. I also made a few friends during those competitions as the same bunch of students used to be present in most of them.

There were many other learnings I went through. In one of the events, we had to draw about any one of the 3 given topics—Fair in the village (Mela), the beach and procession on elephant. I was confused about which one to choose. Mela was my winning entry for a past competition, so I was confident about the first option. The second option, beach, was quick and easy to draw; water would cover half the paper, so it would be a simpler job. Almost finalizing the beach option, I checked my color box and shades of blues were almost exhausted. Till that time I didn’t give any thought to the third option because I hate drawing animals or I should say I couldn’t draw animals well. Its tough! But having no other choices and time left, I challenged myself to opt for ‘the elephant procession’.
It was a nightmare, I finally drew an elephant and horses looking like identifiable creatures on the cost of a 3 inch eraser scrubbed down to an inch in size. After a long struggle, I finished drawing the procession. We used to show our finished work to accompanying parents who were the most curious souls. My mother’s expressions made it look as if my drawing was completely unrelated to any of the given topics!

Results were to be announced after a half hour break. My mother had dropped all hopes of my winning after seeing my masterpiece. But we still waited for other friends, who had done a better job... apparently. Judges had selected 5 winners and announced their names in ascending order. A sudden strike of Lady Luck, I happen to be the no.1 winner. My mom was shocked and I was also surprised but happy. Later the jury members spoke to my teacher that—I was the only one who dared to choose the third option and made a great picture (effort). This ‘only’ elephant procession stood out amongst the cliched, playful beaches and fairs.

Calligraphy

Pass time activities—Playing with letters.

Catchin' eyeballs

I would like to share my final year diploma project—Catchin’ eyeballs, sponsored by B4U television Mumbai. (B4U–Bollywood for you). 

Here are some screenshots/storyboard of master ident. All these are created digitally. Its based on masala of Bollywood. It combines all spices and characters into one thread that derives story.

Haathi Chaap

I bumped into Delhi Haat to visit the yearly nature bazaar by Dastkaar (www.dastkar.org). Its an amazing festival where you get to see craftsmen and artists from all over India. This year’s theme/mascot was ‘Elephant’. To follow the theme, one organization called ElephantPooPaper (http://elephantpoopaper.com) developed paper products, selling under the brand ‘Haathi Chaap’ (elephant print or elephant brand). I was surprised to know that all the inside papers, the cover, the hardboard (gaththe) were made of ‘elephant poo (dung)’. They even put the charts to describe entire process from collecting dung to the final products. Quite a thoughtful eco-friend!

Unmatched

Just an observation, this is very common matchbox in NCR region. The brand or name of the matchbox is ‘DELHI’. Its strongly represented by ‘Gateway of India’ which is located in Mumbai. So is it a typography error or visual error? Or designer wanted to show the presence of capital by showing the visual which actually represents the ‘real’ capital of India. Or it might just be a plain case of weak knowledge about history (or geography)?

Keep reading this blog; I will soon write about my matchbox collection, where you might observe some interesting facts.

Namesake! i to ee

Naam main kya rakha hai? But there is always a story or meaning behind everyone’s name. Especially in case of Indians. There is an interesting story of my name, where central characters are these alphabets ‘ee’. 

I used to be Nikhil till 10th’s board exam form submission. My form got rejected because of some reason, all clerical staff were curious, wondered and couldn’t found the reason! After all tallying and going through in detail everyone relived to know its cause of spelling mistake. On the birth certificate, its Nikheel, so it was not matching with ‘identity—From that onwards I have to call myself Nikheel (stretching on ‘khee’)  keeping in mind, I changed the Devanagari writing too–निखील. 

Ohh, do you believe in numerology? Suits your creative style ha! Something unique! Easy to get login/email ids—I started liking the ‘difference’ and gradually said good bye to ‘i’ and accepted the presence of ‘ee’. Now days I started signing off my causal-emails by ‘ee’.