Thread by @SanjuktaChoudh5

On the world scene many celebrated artists like Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin & Michelangelo have been subjects of highly lauded novels. Ramkinkar Baij is the only Indian artist based on whose life a serialised novel (Dekhi Nai Phire) was being written by

#RamkinkarBaij

Samaresh Basu when the later passed away. What attracted Basu to Baij ? Other than his colourful & complicated personality Basu was attracted towards the strange facts of Baij's life which through surprising twists & turns transformed a small-town boy into one of the major

figures of modern Indian art.

Baij was a part of the Non-Cooperation movement against the British & painted portraits of freedom fighters who participated in that.

He was interested in theatre too & often directed many plays. One such was play was Two Palaces or

Dui Mahal, the background score for which was written by Mohan Singh Khangura.

Baij even played the role of Bishu Pagol in Tagore’s famous drama Rakta Karabi or Red Oleander. Many are not aware that Baij was a dramatist too.

Says Vivan Sundaram: “When Ramkinkar was asked whether he preferred sculpture or painting, he said, ‘I ride both horses at the same time’. He rode a third horse as well and this was performance — theatre and song — which he loved with equal passion.”