Bansari Pinank Shah

IR2028

Shikhandi: Life, Death and Revenge

Recontextualizing a character from the epic tale Mahabharat into a film set in a fictional world. Here the character Shikhandi has been imagined in the world of the Hunger Games movie series.


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Painters' ideas are reflected in their work and their thoughts are translated into visuals. In order to imagine a space as the artist would have viewed it, one must try to understand the artist themselves. Picasso was part of the cubist art movement and he worked with multiple perspectives and the idea of distortion and planes. Similar principles have been used to recreate an image of the CEPT Library using the colour palette of a painting from his Synthetic Cubism period, “harlequin Musician”

The lotus is etched onto his chest, metaphorically, the soul, showing how the lotus connects him to his previous life. He wears a crown of butterflies, showing his self-acceptance and pride in his identity. He holds an arrow in his left hand and fire on his right, showing his desire for revenge – or justice – through violence and death. There is no aggression in his stance and he holds the arrow almost gently, but there is a certain power radiating from him. The phases of the moon signify how he

The voluminous doric columns guide the vision to the end of the hall where three seats where the three princesses would be seated for their Swayamvar. Seats for numerous suitors line the hall and the King and Queen would occupy the thrones in the far end of the room. This is the origin of Shikhandi’s story, as Amba where she, along with her younger sisters was abducted by Bhishma to be married to his half-brother. Deeply insulted by Bhishma’s cruel act, which left Amba unable to belong anywher

One of the most important events in Shikhandi’s life was the sex change. Although Shikhandi was always a man, his body wasn’t built accordingly. This change happened in the forest with the help of Yaksha, a forest spirit. The space is in the middle of a thick forest with brilliant sunlight in the shape of a hemisphere made of glass, keeping the indoors connected to the outdoor. The shape is part of a sphere showing a continuous nature and a sphere has no beginning or end. The smaller glass hemis

Shikhandi was perhaps the most secretive and mysterious character in the epic tale of Mahabharat. Little is known about his personal life except the fact that he was married to the princess of Dasharna, which led to his sex change to please his wife. Secondly there are numerous versions of Shikhandi’s life and gender and none of them are definitive. This room shows just how secret his life was; it has no windows or openings and only a single door leading to the rest of the apartment.

The semi-open sitting space adjacent to the main living room follows a similar colour palette to show ambiguity and luxury. This area, although in the open is more closed off than the rest of the space, allowing only less, and selective people to occupy it. The semi-open nature of the space shows a certain freedom that the apartment gives Shikhandi to carry a life in the Capitol and secretly conspire against it too.

The large living room is characteristic for most people living in the Capitol. Since their lifestyle includes frequent social gatherings and meetings, the large space provides for such. This also acts as a façade to the general public of the capitol who ate unaware of Shikhandi’s secret and affiliation to the rebel battle. It follows the colour theme of black and gold; black being the most ambiguous colour with multiple connotations, similar to Shikhandi and gold adding a certain aspect of luxur