Balraj Khanna – A Creative Legend who weaves his magic through the written word as well as giving us mysteries to ponder in his prolific works of art – and has a real claim to fame…..
Balraj Khanna, enchanting author and artist, prefers his art to not only remain something of a mystery in terms of content, but also to be undefined in terms of “genre” or “type”. He owns an impressive collection of his work, the latest being a 42 x 36 canvas as yet without a title together with a recent 42 x 36 work – “Up up and away” about which he says “flight is freedom, flight is joy”. As you may imagine, this displays eye catching symbols of flight and detachment from dry ground. His art includes some very large canvasses dwarfing the 42 x 36 sizes, and he has a personal style which includes the use of sand on the canvasses for example, sprinkled on to wet paint and then allowed to dry before colours, acrylic spray, stencils and designs, are added. He also likes to use cloth on his canvasses, which when painted give a 3D effect and he passionately believes in the part that light plays in viewing and enjoying canvasses which “plays with your work”. There are examples of his work in galleries around the United Kingdom, as well as in private collections. Several months ago Balraj had an exhibition at the Osborne Samuel gallery in Bruton Street for 5 weeks when he sold a number of his works, that in spite of the ongoing recession in the UK.
Balraj strongly believes that “any work of literature, music or art has to represent something new. Whichever language you use, your work has to portray something distinctly original”. That is a commendable though of course not unheard of view and Balraj has developed his own techniques and style which continue to evolve. You need to look him up on his website to view the eclectic range of his work including 3 dimensional sculptural pieces which encompass a self portrait. A leading clue as to how his artwork has taken shape is that he says people whom he respects, loves and admires have an influence on his own work – “you make your own formula – things come to you – you keep on coming up with new work”.
Moving on to the literary section of Balraj Khanna’s work, he has written the following novels – “Nation of Fools”, “Sweet Chillis”, “The Mists of Simla” and his latest very popular (2014) work – “Indian Magic”. He has also written a childrens’ book for which he has had some interest from the film world, and has additionally published some writing on Indian history and Indian cooking. Though Balraj enjoys writing material which brings a smile to the reader’s face, he is currently embarking on a serious historical work – set in the partition of India of 1947, which covers the brutality of the British Empire about which he feels Indian leaders did nothing to stop it happening. In 1947, the population was under 400 million. This is work in progress so keep an eye on his website to see how it is developing.
It is an achievement indeed to have a novel reach acclaim in the competitive market of fiction and Balraj has a personal claim to fame regarding his first novel, “Nation of Fools” – published in 1984. One of his cricketing buddies called him one day and said “Hey Balraj, do you take the Telegraph?”. Balraj replied, “Only when I am in it”. “Grab a copy then”, his friend replied. Balraj found a copy at his local petrol station and under an article about novels of the century, there was “Nation of Fools” (published by Michael Joseph under the Penguin imprint) amongst them – a great accolade indeed. I feel sure that encouragement at this high level helped Balraj to produce even better work later on.
Back to “Indian Magic” – is it autobiographical? Balraj insists though it embraces issues which a lot of Indian immigrants encountered during the sixties, and it is essentially aimed to be a feelgood factor style story, though it does not dodge the issues of predjudice which people coming to study and settle here encountered, which might bring a tear to the eye of some eager readers, the story is mainly fiction with maybe one or two insights into real experiences. Clearly though he has taken some. The rest is up to you – enjoy the story as it is intended to be enjoyed. Already ideas are conjured up of a wonderfully fun-filled movie maybe starring a top British Asian actor such as Dev Patel who has made his name in “Skins”, “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Marigold Hotel” and its soon to be released sequel of late.
As the writer of this article, I would like to express my opinion on the art of selecting a good read: – if a writer has been recommended and “accoladed” by The Telegraph – one of our best broadsheets, with a truly clear-thinking team of writers and customers/readers, then this is a green light to you if you want true satisfaction when finding a book to engross you. The rest is up to you. Choose your novel – or of course read through all of them. Good reading, and do not forget to google a selection of both Balraj Khanna’s magical and mystical prolific artworks together with all his written work – which some of you will already know and love, as soon as you can.
Penny Nair Price
