In his series on display recently in Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery, Parimoo, former dean of MS University’s Fine Arts faculty, explored a variety of themes from popular Hindi cinema fused with Raja Ravi Verma’s grand depictions.

The series, titled Chaurapanchashika: Iconography of a Nayika, also borrows from medieval Sanskrit poetry and Jain miniatures bearing the same name as Parimoo’s series — which he also describes as his old-age style or “ultima maneira”.

“The paintings depict the nostalgia of Kashmiri poet Bilhana, remembering his lady love. But in my paintings, I wish to imply that the female image is entirely a figment of imagination,” says the septuagenarian Parimoo, who terms the series as the remembrances of the archetypal male of the archetypal female.

He considers his works of 1970s as “hostile”. It was replaced by an imaginary female face, which he calls Nayika, following the traditional shringara rasa.

“On the occasion of my 1999 retrospective shows in Mumbai, I began a new series. It involved self-portraits, making it altogether different,” says Parimoo, describing his inspiration.

But his search for a female face became a matter of concern. “The search continued until I saw [Sanjay Leela] Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, released in 2000. I was struck by the hypnotic eyes of the actor playing the role of a girl from a patriarchal and conventional feudal family of Gujarat. It was relevant for me as I, too, live in Gujarat,” said Parimoo, who ended up substituting Mona Lisa’s smile with Aishwarya’s.

Coincidently, his own eyes posed a problem too and he had to undergo an eye operation in 2002. “The doctor said that two eyes are not similar. It is one good eye and one weak that makes us see,” he said. For Parimoo, the series posed a challenge in many ways.