Rourkela: Bhagyashree Sahu, an Odia engineering student and a Pattachitra artist was on cloud nine when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praise for her artistic creations in his radio talk ‘Mann Ki Baat’ Sunday.
Bhagyashree, a resident of Sector-19 in the Steel City, has done Pattachitra on various themes using soft stones. She used her skill during the lockdown period and created splendid arts on unused bottles, fuse electric bulbs and others glass and plastic materials.
“On her way to college, Bhagyashree found these soft stones, she collected and cleaned them. Later, she painted these stones in Pattachitra style for two hours every day. After painting these stones, she started gifting them to her friends. During the lockdown, she started painting on bottles too. And now, she even conducts workshops on this art form,” Modi said.
Wishing her all success, the Prime Minister said, “A few days ago, on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagyashree paid him a unique tribute done on stone. I wish her all the best for her future endeavours.”
Reacting to the PM’s applause, Bhagyashree said, “The moment Modiji spoke on me it was unbelievable. I can’t express my feelings. I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recognising me and my art.”
Creating a number of arts on various bhesha (appearance) of Lord Jagannath, Bhagyashreee has plans to make more paintings on other Hindu deities like Shiva-Parbati and Radha-Krishna.
She said that she had once visited Raghurajpur village in Puri, famous for Pattachitra. This inspired her to adopt Pattachita. She was doing B Tech in Dhenkanal. At leisure, she used to make Pattachitra.
PNN