BOLLY>HOLLY>LOLLY>TOLLY

Presented as part of the 2003 Masala! Mehndi! Masti! festival

Bani Abidi, Anita Agrawal, Faisal Anwar, Gayathiri Ganeshan, Asma Arshad Mahmood, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Carol Pereira, Andrèe Pouliot, Tazeen Qayyum, Nep Sidhu, Vanita Varma

The excitement and glamour of Bollywood has always captivated its audiences. In fact, Bollywood has inspired a copycat genre of filmmaking in Lahore, Hollywood, Toronto and beyond…and so we have BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY.

The Lahore film industry aka Lollywood has had an intimate relationship with Bollywood from the earliest years of filmmaking in South Asia. More recently, western audiences have been bedazzled by Hollywood-Bollywoodesque films like Moulin Rouge and The Guru. Toronto filmmaker Deepa Mehta brought us Bollywood-Hollywood – a cinematic tribute to both Bollywood and Toronto. And New York-based, Mira Nair gave us her Bollywood-inspired film Monsoon Wedding.

The Bollywood trend has also caught on with art exhibitions such as “Bollywood has arrived” 2001 – in the Passenger Terminal, Amsterdam and “Cinema India: The Art of Bollywood”, 2003 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. And on the stage, there’s Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster musical Bollywood Dreams.

BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY presents artwork by SAVAC members which seeks to critique, celebrate, reflect upon, undermine, and re-interpret Bollywood, Lollywood, Hollywood and Tollywood in its all its many dazzling facets.

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Artists

Bani Abidi (Pakistan) – so he starts singing (video loop, 2001).
An unending narrative about Indian films constructed from an interview with a friend who is an Indian film enthusiast.

Anita Agrawal (Toronto) – Bollywood Formulas (series of oil paintings, 2003)
A fictional company sells various products & ideas based on recent Bollywood movies and trends.

Faisal Anwar (Toronto) – “Id Check” (multi-media installation, 2003)
A glimpse into the cinema of 2050 where the main essence of South Asian films are swallowed and owned by Hollywood.

Gayathiri Ganeshan (Toronto) – “Women in Hindu Culture” (cprints, 2003)
A series of dramatically lit photographs display the ceremonial cycle of a Hindu woman’s life from marriage to widowhood, a popular underlying theme in Bollywood films.

Asma Arshad Mahmood (Toronto) – “BLHT Canned” (digital poster, 2003)
Multiple digitally collaged posters will be plastered on a wall depicting the “masala” of Bollywood in its packaged, “canned” form.

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew (Rhode Island) – “Bollywood Satirized” (digital portfolio, 1999-2003)
Indian movie posters are digitally altered to make satirical commentary and humorous challenges to traditional gender roles and behavior in Indian society.

Carol Pereira (New York) – “Loti” (inflatable plastic sculpture, 2003)
Inspired by the pageantry of India’s pop culture, nature is embraced in a world made of plastic.

Andrèe Pouliot 2003 (Ottawa)- Nayagi Rocket Bomb, Rocket, Bharat Flower, Bharat Flower Pots, Ravindra Fireworks, Silver Lady (reverse glass collage series, 2002)
The quaint technique of reverse glass art is used with fireworks package labels and images of Bollywood actresses, who blend demure tradition and steamy sexuality, to create pieces that convey the exuberant visual textures found in the bazaar.

Tazeen Qayyum (Toronto) Sitary (mixed media bookwork, 2003)
In India and Pakistan where issues like poverty, illiteracy and unemployment prevail, Bolly & Lolly has a tremendous effect on the general masses, and most of the time the dream to become a star is as far from reality as the films of Bollywood and Lollywood.

Nep Sidhu (Toronto) – Strange Brown Angel (oil & acrylic on canvas, 2002)
An art nouveau approach is used to transcribe a Bollywood actress through the artist’s own standards & definition of beauty. A chalk peacock, as drawn by children on the streets and walls in India, is featured for the way it relates to a woman’s display of sexual energy, and plain old fashioned “Auntie-Lust.”

Vanita Varma (Toronto) – Bitter, Wistful, Desire (mixed media collage, 2002-03)
Using text derived from Bollywood films, the “brown girl series” comments upon life, looking for love and reflecting on loss.

A number of Bollywood posters from the collection of www.indiaartmart.com will be featured in the BOLLY>LOLLY>HOLLY>TOLLY exhibition. India Art Mart is essentially an online art gallery that sells art and guides first-time or experienced art buyers and collectors.