A painting jointly created by one of the greatest contemporary artists M F Husain and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was sold for 160,000 pounds at an auction held at Bonhams showroom.
The work which depicted a scene from ‘Mugal-e-Azam’ was almost entirely done by Husain, named by Forbes magazine as the "Picasso of India" with the King Khan giving some "nervous strokes" at the finish.
"Whatever we do can be turned into a masterpiece, because he is the master," said SRK about the 92-year-old artist adding that it was an honour to be able to share canvas with the veteran artist known for walking bare feet and for carrying a paintbrush wherever he goes.
The painting featured a man in sand-coloured clothing fanning the face of his lover, Anarkali, who is reclining near a musician playing a sitar.
Only the sitar was to be completed by Husain and SRK in front of the live audience on Saturday. As the actor carefully filled in the bottom portion of the sitar nervously, Husain took the paintbrush away to the amusement of audience.
Asked about SRK's contribution to his painting, Husain said: "Being an artist, whether you are a painter or an actor, we are bound to add some colour, something to whatever we do. The painting is almost done, I am lucky that Shah Rukh is with me for the final touches."
"I am not an artist by a long shot, but I'm here to just enjoy the evening as I hope many of you will too," SRK, who was accompanied by wife Gauri, a well known art collector, and children Aryan and Suhana, said.
Husain said women in his paintings are his way of depicting his mother who died when he was a toddler. "I seek my mother in the women I depict in my paintings," he said. Husain and SRK wrote their signatures in the upper right corner of the piece. The "Art for Freedom" event was held to raise support for art and media.
The display was part of the auction of 35 works done by top artists like S H Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Jogen Chowdhury, Jatin Das, Aparna Caur and Yusuf Arakkal.
Much of the works were a collaborative effort between top artists and high-profile Indian and UK celebrities.
While London-based artist Angeli Sonwani worked along Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, NRI industrialist Sir Ghulam Noon teamed up with Paresh Maity, Shamshad Husain with Surina Narula, Farhan Mujeeb with actor Naseeruddin Shah among others.
Anjana Kuthiala, the artist who has painted many portraits of SRK, said collaborative art pieces have become a big trend today. Her own painting called 'SRK and the flowering tree' has contributions from celebrities like playback singer Sonu Nigam and SRK's mother-in-law Savita Chibber.
The auction market for Indian art alone, according to Bonhams, has almost tripled from 26 million pounds in 2006 to its current rate of 75 million pounds.
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