Pic credit – Google
The unveiling of the Statue of Unity has faced ire, memes and jokes in equal measure. Tribals, farmers and locals have upped the ante against the massive expenditure of money on the statue turning a complete blind eye towards the needs of the last man in the line. This even as a bitter political powerplay has unfolded with players like BSP supremo, Mayawati jumping into the gladiatorial ring.
Training guns she has raked up the issue of naysayers targeting her memorials in Lucknow. While all this plays out, one man has been quietly watching his long standing dream of giving shape to the tallest statue in the world bear fruit.
Nonagenarian Ram Vanji Sutar, a Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri recipient is no alien to the sculptor business. The unveiling of the Sardar Patel statue in Modi’s den Gujarat ahead of 2019 has immortalized him.
Back in the day, encouraged by drawing teacher Krishna Joshi, Ram joined the JJ School of Art where he admired the craft of G.K. Mhatre, Balaji Vasant Talim, Vinayakrao Wagh and V.P Karmarkar. He graduated in 1953 with a diploma in sculpture. He got an assignment with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Ellora Caves fixing cracks in the ancient rock-cut sculptures there.
He later joined the I & B Ministry. After giving up his government job in 1959 where he was playing role of Advisor to the I & B Ministry, Sutar took the plunge as a full time sculptor and he has not looked back.
A highly decorated sculptor, Ram Vanji Sutar has to his credit over 50 monuments across the globe built over a time span of six decades. Ram Sutar will be 94 in February next year.
He gained sureshot fame when he created what is widely popular as the depiction of River Chambal at the Gandhi Sagar Dam in Madhya Pradesh.
source – social media
Carved out of a single rock it showed Mother Chambal with her two children as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Following this came the Bhakra Dam sculpture and these projects kept coming.
By the time Narendra Modi was at the helm of affairs in Gujarat, Ram Sutar had become a household name. If articles are anything to go by then his works revolving around the Saint of Sabarmati gave him a cult status among his peers.
A Gandhi bust designed by Ram Sutar in 1969 is his most widely circulated work. India has given similar replicas to many countries including UK, France, Russia and Latin American nations.
The largest copy of the same statue is located at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
Ram V Sutar’s fascination for Patel dates back to the 90s. As a sculptor rearing to go, he had studied nearly 2000 photographs of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. His imagery as a brisk walker fast caught the fancy of Sutar. The first of such depictions was in a 1998 statue.
Journalists write that “Ram’s attention to detail, like the folds of a shawl, the threadwork in a jacket, and minute anatomical features, is without a parallel.”
At 182 metres, the Statue of Unity stands 54 metres taller than the next tallest monument in the world which is the Spring Temple of Buddha in China.
Interestingly, of the 2,000 tonnes of bronze sheet used to cover the statue, 135 tonnes of iron was donated by farmers to support the project.
Next on his agenda are a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue and the tallest statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar (350ft) to be installed at Dadar, Mumbai.
Interestingly The Sutars and Mayawati’s chief architect Jay Kaktikar were the go to guys for all the memorials created under Mayawati rule.
As this great man beats age barriers to ink his place in history, such mortals should be celebrated for their finesse and dedication.
Source : Google
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