Bhaskar Chitrakar: Painting Kalighat Moderns

Bhaskar Chitrakar is among the last remaining hereditary painters of the famed Kalighat temple tradition. From his unassuming home studio in Kolkata, he creates colorful and sensuous artworks that traverse global museums and art fairs. This short documentary explores Chitrakar’s painting style and eclectic sources of visual inspiration. How has an artistic tradition that was once so deeply ensconced in Hindu religious mores and British colonial patronage become a site for modern secular social criticism? What is in store for the future of this craft, as younger community members turn away from painting and are instead finding work making religious idols? With characteristically wry humor, Chitrakar takes us behind the scenes of the changing social and class landscapes of his beloved city, one painting at a time.