The many muses of Hussain

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With their million dollar smiles and faces that can light up the screen, our Bollywood divas can put the loveliest artworks to shame. Small wonder then that the legendary artist M.F. Hussain has turned to them time and again to serve as his muses.
Hussain’s latest muse is the talented Vidya Balan. The painter/director is all praise for Vidya after seeing Ishqiya and is now planning a film with the actress. A source revealed, “M.F. Hussain is currently working on a script for Vidya. He thinks she’s the quintessential Indian beauty and a powerhouse of talent.”
Although immensely flattered, we hear that Vidya is keen on completing all her prior assignments before taking on new ones. Currently, she is shooting for Rajkumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica, which is based on the murder of model Jessica Lall.
Hussain’s most famous muse of course was Madhuri Dixit nee Nene. After seeing her in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Hussain conceptualised his dream project Gajagamini around the dhak dhak girl. For his next project Meenaxi, Hussain turned to Tabu for inspiration, entranced by the way she walked, talked, dressed and smiled.
Hussain’s third muse was Urmila Matondkar and he had even announced a third film around her, a comedy. The painter claimed that Urmila’s body language was so funny, she would be able to portray Indian humour in an ideal way.
Post her turn in Shyam Benegal’s Welcome To Sajjanpur and Vivaah, Amrita Rao caught the painter’s fancy. The actress even met the painter and she says, “Any film which has Indian culture appeals to him. Also, as Hussain saab was born and brought up in Kolhapur, he was pleased to see me as a potter in the film. He is very fond of pottery and his first film Gajagamini was based on it. After 11 years, he declared me his next muse and that’s the biggest compliment I have ever received. He has immortalised me on his canvas.”
Hussain was later smitten by Katrina Kaif, and so impressed by Subhash Ghai’s Yuvvraaj that he watched it twice in the theatre and offered to make a painting based on it.