Meet Saurabh Turakhia, the man who has made more than 250 portraits of Bollywood celebrities

Thirty-six-year-old Saurabh Turakhia was always inclined towards art while he was growing up, like any other child. He looked as art as nothing but just another hobby.

That notion changed when a neighbourhood teacher, Mrs Soparkar started to teach him and some of his friends how to draw.

“It was under her guidance that art began to grown on me,” Turakhia claims.

For years later, he tried keeping up with his hobby as much as possible, but it was only in 2007 that he gave art a permanent room in his daily life.

“I was recovering from a terrible setback at that time and found it very difficult to reconcile with the situation at hand. Even though I had a full-time job, surviving the lonely hours after work was over was a struggle. I soon realised that I couldn’t depend on friends to meet everyday and I really needed to let go of angst and it was then that I decided to turn my hobby into a passion.”

Since then he’s been actively sketching and finally took to painting in 2010.

Living in a Bollywood country like India and consuming Bollywood movies by the minute, choosing to draw portraits of Bollywood celebrities was an obvious decision.

“Despite the criticism that the Hindi film industry faces now and then for the kind of movies it churns out, Bollywood’s charm has always worked on me since childhood. Moreover I’m deeply inspired by movies like Amar Akbar Anthony, Meri Jung and Karma,” he explains.

He soon started putting his work on social media and garnered accolades from across the country. Getting recognition from the media and receiving praises for his work from stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Anupam Kher among others on Twitter gave him enough motivation to continue his calling.

“In a way, I felt vindicated,” he tells me.

As luck would have it, his social media popularity also got him the opportunity of learning the art of caricature from none other than Vivek Thakkar, the famous caricature artist whose work appeared in Cineblitz.

Turakhia who is a full-time writer wishes to take up art full time once he retires, with the aim to break the myth that art can’t be considered as a full-time occupation.

“The main reason I want my art to make money is so that anyone who’s inclined to take this path as his career should not face any hesitation from his parents whatsoever,” he concludes.

To see his complete work, visit his blog.

Incase you’re interested in buying his portraits, you can contact him at +919892733839