Likhitha P Nair By Express News Service KOCHI: Madhavan Eriyat was a man of many colours. Born in a middle-lass family in 1923, he was always inclined to fine arts, music and dance. A freedom fighter, he was arrested and imprisoned in 1942 for four months—an incident that changed his priorities at least for a brief time. He moved on to build a career in advertising, going on an elaborate adventure with life and work, donning the roles of an actor, corporate leader, and art director. It was after returning to Tripunithura in 1989—the place where he assisted his teacher in making temple paintings as a child— that he began fulfilling his childhood urge. He chose to use art as a medium to express a freedom fighter’s vision of India. His images conceived every ounce of art, hope and revolution that he held back throughout his life. This artist’s death in 2007 may have put an end to this adventure, but art is evergreen. The ongoing exhibition named ‘Through the eyes of a freedom fighter’, organised jointly by his nephew Suresh Eriyat and Riverbourne cente, Tripunithura, is reviving his fighting spirit. The show was inaugurated on Republic Day, as an ode to the country and its people, and will be on till the first week of February. His oil paintings touch upon a spectrum of things—religion, harmony, knowledge, faith, unity, farmers, family and every other thing that matter to India and its people. He has repeatedly mentioned the need for religious harmony, and faiths coming together to build peace—a utopia that carries plenty of relevance in India’s current political landscape. “People like him have seen India in fragments. For as long as I can remember, he was concerned about communalism taking over the country and its conscience,” says Suresh, an animator and director whose movies have won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Animation Film. The paintings encompass Madhavan’s vision for a better nation. In 1944, Madhavan acted in a movie named ‘Lakharani’, alongside actress Azuri. In 1960, he went to London to specialise in art and Typography. Despite the range of skills he touched in his life, Madhavan managed to keep everything that inspired him along that journey close. Later, as he retired from most of those places, he encapsulated the thoughts, ideas and hopes into many colourful frames. Among the collectio are few mystical, surreal paintings, while others speak the real deal—women wounded in the struggle to protect their country and farmers fighting those spoiling their land. “There are two sides to the person he was. One, that loved art and the soft skills, which empathises with women and the integral part they play in keeping this country sane. The other side of him was a rebel—one that brought down the British mobility shed in Vyttila back in the day,” Suresh adds. Also featured at the exhibition is a collection of Madhavan’s personal belongings—an HMT watch, a transistor radio, letters he recieved from prominenet political contemporaries, his spectacles and such. “It was important for me to ensure that people remember what he stood for. Coincidentally, we could arrange this tribute in Trippunithura,” concludes Suresh.

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