Mumbai artist creates world’s largest diya mosaic to pay homage to Virat Kohli
4,482 diyas were used to create the Virat Kohli mosaic at Seawood Grand Central Mall (Picture: Abaasaheb Shewale)
In a fitting tribute, a Mumbai-based artist has used over 4,000 clay lamps or ‘diyas’ to create a massive mosaic of Virat Kohli at a mall in Navi Mumbai ahead of Diwali this year.
The artwork has been created at Seawood Grand Central Mall in Nerul, Navi Mumbai. Needless to say, it has become a point of interest for visitors, who have lauded the artist for his immaculate depiction of the Indian cricket captain.
The 9.5-foot wide and 14-foot long mosaic was created by Abaasaheb Shewale using 4,482 diyas.
Shewale reckons that it is the “world’s largest clay diya mosaic” and has applied for the Guinness World Record, India Book of Records and Unique World Records.
The artwork was created using red, white, blue, green, yellow and brown diyas – all of which were bought and painted by Shewale himself. The artist spent about Rs 10,000 of his own money to execute the project.
It took Shewale and five other artists – Snehal Shewale, Tanuja Shewale, Suraj Gole, Kumar Hadwale and Rupesh Tandel – a total of eight hours to assemble the entire portrait.
The occasion also coincides with Kohli’s birthday, which falls on November 5 – two days ahead of Diwali this year.
“Since his (Kohli’s) birthday is on November 5 and that is also the day Diwali is starting this year, it felt the right thing to do,” the 31-year-old artist was quoted as saying.
The mosaic was created on October 28 and will remain in place until November 10.
The artwork has garnered high praise from visitors, many of whom have shared its pictures on social media. While Shewale is extremely happy with the response so far, he is hoping that Kohli himself sees the artwork and comments on it.
The ace-batsman, incidentally, has been in a tremendous form of late. Just last week, Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score three centuries in one-day cricket. Before that, he became the fastest to score 10,000 runs in One-day Internationals.
Making of the Virat Kohli mosaic:
