Actor Salman Khan has announced that he hopes to hold a public exhibition of his paintings and sketches by December this year in Mumbai. Khan who spends hours locked in his studio sketching and painting whenever he ‘doesn’t want to meet anybody’ has stated, “My exhibition will hopefully be held within two months if all goes as per schedule.”
Sources further revealed that Khan is also hoping to part with some of his selected works with a sale where all proceeds will be going to his charity fund, the Salman Khan Foundation.
Khan decided to perfect his painting skills in 2006 by taking lessons in refining his technique from painter Nilesh Vede, a successful artiste from Chembur with over 2000 paintings in his collections.
Salim Khan, Salman’s father, is proud that his son has been exploring his talent. “Salman has been a talented artiste right from childhood. It’s something he got from his mother (Salma) who is an accomplished artist herself. My two sons, Arbaaz, Sohail or my two daughters, Alvira and Arpita are like me, they cannot even draw a line. But Salma’s specialised talent has come into Salman.”
Several pieces of work by Salman adorn the walls of his parents’ apartment and his own home – Galaxy Apartments in Bandra. Which is Salim Khan’s favourite painting by son Salman? “All of them are very good but one of my favorites is an abstract which hangs in my passage. It has images of people from different religious communities. The first painting that he did was of his dogs, My Jaan and My Son. I loved that. He truly did justice to them. After that people encouraged him to paint some more and now he has taken it up as a craft.”
In addition to the planned exhibition in December, Khan has been in talks with Chetan Bhagat, author of best seller “One Night in a Call Centre.” Bhagat is interested in using one of the actors paintings as a book cover for his upcoming tome – “The Three Mistakes of My Life,” a tale about three boys in Ahmedabad, which deals with “business, cricket and religion.”
“He puts his heart into his paintings and that’s visible. The way I write is similar. He has hundreds of paintings and we just may choose one for the cover,” says Bhagat.
However, there remains a possibility that the actor will do a cover especially for the book. Khan’s business manager, Vikas Kapoor, has confirmed that the actor is more than likely to come up with a painting for Bhagat’s upcoming work of fiction.
