Anand Shivram Parab
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Anand-kaka”
4 September 1941 — 11 March 2022 · aged 80
Hand-painter of Bollywood sets and film hoardings, Girgaum's beloved Anand-kaka
Mumbai, India Born in Devrukh, Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra Resting at Ashes immersed in the Arabian Sea off Girgaum ChowpattyAbout Anand
Anand Parab smelled of turpentine and sandalwood soap, and for forty years the walls of Mumbai wore his work. Born in the Konkan village of Devrukh, he came to Girgaum at eleven to live with an uncle in a crowded chawl, where the first thing he painted was a banner for the lane's Ganeshotsav committee. A night-school teacher noticed how he drew, and at sixteen he won a place at the Sir J.J. School of Art.
After graduating he joined the scenic department at Mehboob Studio in Bandra, painting the skies, palace facades and railway stations that Hindi cinema once built from plywood and cloth. He could paint a marble pillar so convincingly that visiting actors tried to lean on it. When the studios turned to hoardings he climbed the bamboo scaffolds himself, brushing twelve-foot heroes above Lamington Road and signing every corner in tiny letters: A. S. Parab. He trained more than thirty apprentices and never raised his voice at any of them; if a line wandered, he would simply say, 'Again, but slower.'
At home he was a different kind of artist. Every year, three months before Ganeshotsav, the family's single room filled with clay as he sculpted the household Ganpati by hand, refusing plaster of Paris long before it was fashionable. He hummed Natyasangeet songs, ate vada pav standing at Chowpatty at six each evening, and kept a ledger of debts owed to him that he never once collected. He married Sulochana in 1968. He died peacefully at home in Girgaum on 11 March 2022, a half-finished sketch of a lotus on the table beside him, and is survived by Sulochana, his son Prashant, a film production designer, his daughter Meghna, a schoolteacher, and four grandchildren.
“Paint it so a tired man on the bus forgets his day for one second.”
- Faith
- Hindu
- Place of birth
- Devrukh, Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra
- Resting place
- Ashes immersed in the Arabian Sea off Girgaum Chowpatty
- Passed away
- 11 March 2022, Mumbai
Cremation & Shok Sabha
Saturday, 12 March 2022 at 12:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
A. S. Parab Scenic Painting Scholarship
Fund a yearly scholarship for a young scenic painter at the Sir J.J. School of Art and keep the Girgaum clay-Ganpati tradition alive.
$1,895.25 raised of $4,000
47%20 recent contributions
- HK
Helena Karlsson-Bergström gave $14.25 · 4y ago
- HT
Hanna Tesfaye gave $19 · 4y ago
“In honour of a wonderful woman.”
- AN
Anonymous gave $28.50 · 4y ago
- NC
Nenita Cruz gave $9.50 · 4y ago
- JL
Jericho Lim gave $28.50 · 4y ago
“From your old classmates.”
Life journey
Diploma in Fine Art (Painting)
Sir J.J. School of Art1957 – 1962 · Mumbai
Trained in portraiture and mural painting under a teacher he called his second father.
Scenic Artist
Mehboob Studio1963 – 1982 · Bandra, Mumbai
Painted backdrops, palace facades and railway platforms for dozens of Hindi films.
Married Sulochana
1968 · Girgaum, Mumbai
A marriage of fifty-four years, begun in a one-room chawl.
Film Hoarding Painter
Lamington Road hoarding studios1983 – 2005 · Mumbai
Hand-painted giant film posters from bamboo scaffolds until printed flex banners arrived.
Ganpati Sculptor
Girgaum Ganeshotsav Mandal1966 – 2021 · Girgaum, Mumbai
Shaped the lane's clay idol by hand for fifty-five years, never taking a rupee.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Cine Painters' Welfare Association2009 · Mumbai
For preserving the craft of hand-painted cinema art.
Tap an organisation to find others who studied or worked there.
Family & connections
Anand is survived by
- Sulochana Parab· Spouse
- Prashant Parab· Son
- Meghna Kadam· Daughter
- 4 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
5 people have shared a memory of Anand.
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Girgaum Ganeshotsav Mandal
He never took money for the idol. 'God is already paid,' he said. This year the mandal made the face from his old template, and half the lane cried when the eyes were painted. We kept a small lotus in the corner, just as he used to sign.
- NP
Nephew in New Jersey
Uncle sent me a hand-painted birthday card every year for thirty-five years. I have all of them. The last one came with a sketch of a lotus and a note: 'Come home and see Mumbai before it changes.' I am sorry I waited so long to listen.
- RJ
Art director in the Mumbai film industry
Whenever a set looked flat, we called Anand-kaka. He would walk in, squint for a minute, and add one shadow or one crack in the plaster. Suddenly the room had a history. Nobody painted time the way he did, and nobody will again.
- PN
Neighbour in the Girgaum chawl
Fifty years we shared one water tap and one staircase. Every Ganeshotsav his clay Ganpati sat in our doorway first, so the children could see it before the whole city did. They learned patience just by watching his hands.
- DK
Former apprentice at Mehboob Studio
Kaka taught me to load a brush so it holds a whole sky. In 1979 I ruined a three-day backdrop with one spilled tin of blue. He looked at it, laughed, and said blue was only waiting to become something else. We turned it into a monsoon. I still use that trick on every job.
