Mollywood on the move

KOCHI: Bus body art is no more about zigzag lines and floral print designs. In Kerala, it has become all about movie stars, films and favourite heartthrobs. And if the latest trend is to be believed, there is a growing demand among college students, for tourist buses which embody images of young Mollywood stars like Dulquer Salman, Pranav Mohanlal, Tovino Thomas and Unni Mukundan. In Thiruvananthapuram, one of the bus owners who recently launched his vehicle on the road had specially designed the image of heart-throbs like Nivin Pauly and Kunchacko Boban, taking general sentiments into consideration.

Zini Raju, one of Kerala’s most sought-after tourist bus body artists, says, “Bus body art started growing in the late 1990’s. It started with line graphics, then it slowly moved on to images of birds and animals. After 2005, cultural forms started catching up. This continued till the end of the decade.” 

However, it has been only in the past four to five years since the trend for cinema art on buses has become the norm. “Initially, it started with Hollywood movies where the imagery of these movies was only drawn. Soon, icons like The Rock and Tomb Raider started catching up. The trend then later moved on to games like Assasin Creed,” says Zini, who is regarded as one of the pioneers. 

From 2015-2016, Bollywood stars were kings of this craze. “Every bus owner, who wanted to keep up with this competition, wanted a Shah Rukh Khan or a Sunny Leone on their bus bodies because they knew this was the pulse of the young crowd. They explored this trend till 2016. This year, however, there has been a growing demand for Mollywood and it has been mostly for young stars,” says Mohammed Faizal, a tour packager of Navigators, Kollam, who arranges tour packages for college students.

The psychology
This trend  is mostly seen in colleges from Thiruvananthapuram to Kottayam and also am0ng engineering students. “Most of them go for a seven to eight-day tour, unlike arts students who only have a three to four-day tour. The sentiment is to enjoy these tours in the most luxurious and coolest fashion. Also, with social media being very vibrant today, students want to flaunt the best. Cash is no worry since such tours only happen once in a year,” Faizal adds.  

Firoz Khan, the owner of Moonlight, which operates a large fleet of buses, says the need to stand out and be unique is what inspired owners like him to move towards more interesting and trendy bus body art. Similarly Shifas Nazimudeen, owner of Nazco Holidays in Kottarakara, says he is also introducing a similar theme on his bus.  Bus body artists continuously seek feedback from bus fans and students to know what the sentiment is. 

What is bus body art
Bus body art is done using specially designed airbrushes. “Small but expensive brush equipment with diverse colours are used. As an artist, I spent over ten days for completing one work. First, when the client (bus owner) approaches me, I listen to his idea. If he wants an image of Dulquer or another superstar, I also give ideas on which character from which movie can be drawn. But I never repeat any of the characters or images because it will not do justice to my art. I feel very satisfied as an artist when I get an opportunity to work with different characters,” says Zini.