Two former students of architecture at IIEST have got together to paint the iron guardrails on the median dividers of New Town to pay tribute to Satyajit Ray in his birth centenary year.
Ayan Roy and Soumyadeep Das are dressing up 3.1km of guardrails with graphic art.
Ayan, who co-founded an architecture and design consultancy firm with Soumyadeep, said streets are generally considered boring with less life and their design intends to mark a departure from the stereotype.
“To add life, we thought of choosing the works of the maestro (Ray),” said Ayan.
A theme has been chosen on bright yellow and grey for each graphic to avoid monotony and bring in vibrance.
The form has been kept simplistic.
“The graphics have been completely digitally sketched and printed on the latex print on an aluminium composite panel and fixed on the vertical members using riveting. It has been designed in a way that artworks seem to move along the rails,” said Soumyaedeep.
New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) engaged them as part of a beautification drive.
Motorists headed towards the airport from Salt Lake can spot a mural of a train of camels that instantly brings Ray’s Sonar Kella and sleuth Feluda to mind. Ramparts of an old fort complete with a peacock adds to the flavour.
A little ahead, a steam engine with smoke billowing out seems to head out from the railings with Apu and Durga chasing it from the next set of guardrails. Scenes from Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen and Hirak Rajar Deshe have also been brought to life.
NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said they hit upon the idea to beautify the guardrails to not only make them look prettier but also to discourage passersby from spitting on them.
“We decided to have a new form of 3D art where iconic films will be painted in order to try and dissuade people from making them dirty,” said Sen.