Madhusudan Kumar is the ‘Member of the Managing Committee’ of the historic “Artists’ Centre”, at Kala Ghoda, the art precinct of Mumbai. He is one of the well-known artists of India, with his paintings in the prestigious collections of art, the world over. Among his few series of paintings, the “Naad Brahma” or “Music of the Cosmos” Series have attained global recognition for their depth of emotions, free strokes of colors and perspectives. His musical paintings are being termed as “Poetry in motion” by the art critics like Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, R.T. Shahani, Rinki Battacharya and others.
Madhusudan Kumar is known for his ‘trend setting’ films. His seventies’ woman-centric ‘off- beat’ feature Film “Kadambari” starring gold medal winning actors Shabana Azmi and Vijay Arora, was highly appreciated by the media and the audiences in India and overseas. It was based on a famous novel by ‘Jnanpith award’ winning author Amrita Pritam, with music by Ustad Vilayat Khan. His Documentary film “In the Eyes of Picasso- Kala Ghoda” (Digital -70 minutes duration -2002) is of high archival, informative and entertaining values, with the coverage of Picasso’s paintings and photographs, along with interviews and performances of eminent persons from the arena of visual and performing arts; filmed during India’s most prestigious “Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2002”.
Madhusudan Kumar is also a Sitar performing artist of India. He had the great privilege to be the direct disciple of “Aftaab-e-Sitar” Ustad Vilayat Khan Saheb, the world-renowned Sitar maestro. Along with his several exhibitions of paintings, he has performed Sitar solos in various prestigious and cultural venues of India.
Madhusudan Kumar was born on 16 September 1944 at Mangalore, Karnataka State, India. He won many accolades, prizes and awards for art and music during his high school and college days at St. Aloysius College, Mangalore; while studying for his Bachelor of Science [1965]. Initially he was a Tabla player and was a member of the local ‘Mercara Hill Music Group’. He later took up to play the Sitar under the tutelage of Gulvady Ratnakar Bhat, himself a disciple of Pt. Shridhar Palsikar. He was the ‘Best Artist’ of the University of Mysore. He won prizes for Tabla solo & Sitar solo in Inter-Collegiate Music Competitions at Mangalore, Manipal, Suratkal, Mysore and other venues.
He was initiated to formal learning of drawing by Peter D’Souza and underwent advanced training in Portraiture, Figure drawings, still life, Landscapes (in black & white charcoal and watercolor) under L. K. Shevgoor, himself alumni of CAVA, Mysore; established by Pavanje Gopalakrishnayya with the support of Maharaja of Mysore. Pavanje was one of the first graduates of art at Sir. J. J. School of Art at Bombay; during the British Raj. Madhusudan Kumar was a professional portrait artist by the age of 14.
He migrated to Bombay and in the very next year. He won “Bombay Art Society’s prestigious ’Bhulabhai Memorial Prize’ for painting titled ‘Jugalbandi’, at the Jehangir Art Gallery Platinum Jubilee 1966 - organized by Soli Batliwala - Chief Guest Dr. P. V. Cherian, Governor of Maharashtra - Guests of Honor: Ustad Vilayat Khan, Gajendra Gadkar, Chief Justice of India - theme dedicated to music Initially, he worked as a film poster designing artist under artist Vaman Mistry and later joined as an assistant in Cine Publicity at ‘Paul Studio’, attending film shooting schedules at various Studios of Bombay. Also, he worked at ‘Anjani Arts’ - as visual artist and illustrator.
Since 1999 till 2021, Madhusudan Kumar had been holding the position of the’Hon. Secretary’ of the historic “Artists’ Centre” art gallery, renowned as the nursery of the “Progressive Artists’ Group” and “Bombay Group”, situated in ‘Kala Ghoda’, the quintessential art district of Mumbai. He produced & directed a Documentary film “In the Eyes of Picasso - Kala Ghoda”- with interviews of renowned painters S. H. Raza, Jehangir Sabavala, Mehilli Goboi, Subhash Awchat, Jaideep Mehrotra, Brinda Miller- film makers Shyam Benegal, Saeed Mirza- Director of NGMA Dr.Saryu Doshi, Prafulla Dahanukar, Chairperson ‘Artists’ Centre’- Usha Rajbans Khanna of ‘Samovar’- heritage historian Sharda Dwivedi- poet Arundhati Subramanyam- Pervez Patel of ‘Wayside Inn’- Ex-Sheriff of Mumbai Nana Chudasama and a host of others in 2002.
As a writer in English, Hindi, Kannada and Tulu languages Madhusudan Kumar has written short stories, articles, interviews, biographies, playwritings and film scripts with Screenplay, Dialogues and Lyrics. His epic film Script “KOTI CHENNAYA - THE IMMORTAL WARRIORS” is based on a historic saga of Tulunadu, a folklore of coastal Karnataka, with a backdrop of martial arts; which has been popularized in poetry, literature, ‘Yakshagana’ and regional Cinema. He has written the Script “VILAYAT- SITAR SAMRAT” based on the life of a child prodigy destined to be the world musician of yore. He has researched and written the script on Bana Bhatta’s “Mahashweta- Kadambari”- a story of eternal love, re-incarnations and fantasy. “KADAMBARI 2” - is a love story on telephone and message on global warming, greenhouse gases, tiger, lion and animal conservation - is another film script to be filmed. “Bald & Beautiful” is a Television comedy, along with “Kanoon” [Law] based on true life Court room dramas based on crime. The other stories are “Langda Insaaf” [Lame Justice], “Mizraab” [Stroke], “Dhaara” [Waterfall] and “Vara Dakshina” [Dowry]. He wrote a cathartic play “Story of a Pilot” based on the backdrop of a true incident- an after effect of an air- crash in Bombay.
‘Madhusudan Education Foundation’ formerly ‘Madhusudan Art Foundation’ was registered with the mottos of nurturing, supporting and promoting visual and performing arts, along with academic studies, sports and facilities for health care in India.
Address: Mangalore Art Hub, Devaki Nivas, Matadakani I Cross Road, Urwa Market, Mangalore 575006, India.
