Ecosystem for making films not conducive right now: Muzaffar Ali

New Delhi: There is a time to make films, says veteran filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who has stayed away from cinema since 2015's "Jaanisaar" because the ecosystem for making movies is "not conducive" at the moment.

Long before he made his first film, “Gaman” (1978), he had already begun indulging in the artistic expression of paintings, something he said that truly drives him. It is also something that keeps him busy when he is away from the director's chair.

“I think the ecosystem for making films is not conducive at the moment. But it’s not that I have given up on the idea and my recently published autobiography talks about this journey of film, art and people and places. There is a time to make films, it will come, it will happen,” Ali told PTI in an interview here.

“And even if it doesn’t happen I am happy with the creativity of something that is within my hands,” he added.

The 78-year-old painter, fashion designer, poet and filmmaker on Tuesday inaugurated an eponymous exhibition at Bikaner House, showcasing the lesser-known non-cinema creative aspect of his life.

'Muzaffar Ali' sheds light on a variety of media that have kept the multihyphenate busy beyond the world of movies.

Curated by scholar-author Uma Nair, the show by Masha Art features a comprehensive body of Ali’s works over the past four decades, including his paintings, collages, sketches and designed objects.

Talking about his tryst with other forms of visual arts that are heavily inspired by Sufi poet Rumi and horses, Ali said painting is an important part of his artistic expression.

“Art for me is everything. I may be lesser known as a painter but painting drives me. Painting is a very important part of my artistic journey and expression and these paintings you see here are my dreams of making a film on Rumi, on experience of Rumi’s poetry, the exploration of this magical animal called the horse, the mysteries of the horse which is verging on divinity,” he said.

The exhibition is spread across 11 rooms that trace Ali’s preoccupations with the paint and brush since as early as the 1980s.

The Lucknow-born cultural revivalist debuted with a painting on public display way back in 1970 when art historian Geeti Sen curated a group exhibition in Mumbai, then Bombay.

The art show features a series of collages and paintings that include landscapes and horses, besides a series on Rumi. It also doesn’t miss out on some of the leading ladies of Ali’s award-winning films as well as the architect, and his wife, Meera Ali.

A section of the exhibition opens into portraits of film stars Rekha, who starred in “Umrao Jaan”, and Smita Patil, the star of his directorial debut “Gaman”.

Ali said the artworks are “a journey through time”, which showcase different experiences and emotions.

“It’s a journey through time, through different experiences, landscapes and feelings of art. So, you try to find these things in my paintings, the landscapes which really adorn my mindscape.

“There are a lot of different varieties of things happening in my art, some of which have been private. Art is a very private thing anyway. But when you do an exhibition, you share it with people,” the filmmaker said.

The exhibition will come to a close on January 21.