Twenty years after India-born British-American writer Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown was first published in 2005, its French folio Shalimar le clown that released last month has on its cover an artwork by Delhi-based artist Mukesh Sharma.
“Salman Rushie and publisher Antoine Gallimard approached me after seeing this work on my Instagram. I was told that Salman Rushdie had really liked it and asked the publishing house (Gallimard) to get in touch with me for it to be used on the cover of the book. A lot of correspondence followed and Salman Rushdie also asked for more of my works to see, but they finally decided on this work as it was suitable for this particular book.”
Speaking about the 2018 acrylic on canvas titled Revitalising Memory, Sharma elaborates: “Like a lot of my other recent works, here too I use elements from the keyboard to ponder our relationship with technology. The representation that looks at myth, memory, identity also also borrows from Indian miniatures and traditional stories from the Panchatantra to comment how in several scenarios it difficult to distinguish between who is the puppet and who is controlling the strings, who is riding and controlling whom.”
The French folio of Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, Shalimar le clown (Express Photo)
Rushdie’s eighth novel, which took nearly four years to complete, the layered narrative details the murder of Max Ophuls, former US ambassador to India, by his Kashmiri-Muslim driver who calls himself Shalimar the Clown. The story spans across continents, including Kashmir, France and the United States, and reflects how personal histories are influenced by larger political decisions.
Rushdie has shared a close relationship with the Indian art world, with his friends including the likes of Nalini Malani and the late Vivan Sundaram. He also shared a long friendship with the late artist Bhupen Khakhar. While Rushdie immortalised him in his book The Moor’s Last Sigh through a character inspired by him – that of an account with the soul of an artist – Khakhar painted a portrait of Rushdie titled The Moor, incorporating elements from his book. Khakhar also made a set of five woodcuts and three linocuts for a limited edition based on two stories by Rushdie.
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