How a unique initiative is making traditional Indian art forms more accessible to people

There are dating apps that connect singles and the lovelorn with potential partners and travel apps that unveil the wonders of the world to the curious wandering wayfarer. Now there’s Rooftop, an app which makes traditional Indian art forms, wreathed in mystery and mystique, accessible to art lovers, enthusiasts and even the art-agnostic across the globe.

One may install the app (reportedly the only one of its kind in the world), and participate in live art courses and even directly interact with master painters on a one-on-one basis — virtually. Since its launch, Rooftop has built a community of more than 3,000 artists, including award-winning maestro artists, such as Kalyan Joshi, Venkat Raman and Raja Ram Sharma, who offer live art workshops at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The artists hail from 180 towns in India and have willingly embraced what might seem like alien technology as it gives them the opportunity to steer their own destinies and build their brand with an Indian and global audience.

A brainchild of 32-year-old Kartik Gaggar, founder and CEO of Rooftop, the app was launched on November 23, 2022, and was among the finalists of Startup India Awards 2021. “Rooftop endeavours to curate art and recreational activities based on traditional Indian art,” said Kartik whom we met in Jaipur, Rajasthan, where he has a buzzing studio helmed by a band of 45-strong dynamic young enthusiasts (and five interns). On offer at present are courses (or “experiences” as the creators dub them) on five art forms such as Pichwai, Phad, Gond, Bhil and Mata ni Pachedi.

In Jaipur, a city of searing colour which has for centuries spawned multiple glowing arts and crafts, we got a behind-the-scenes peek into how the courses unfold and are conducted for the app. We met artists who brimmed with humility and seemed to wear their talent with a certain nonchalance. We visited Virendra Bannu, a seventh-generation award-winning artist, at his steeped-in-history home in the spaghetti-thin lanes of the old city of Jaipur. He showed us the lovingly-preserved miniature paintings of his forefathers as well as his own, whose delicate brush strokes (done with traditional squirrel-hair brushes) and vibrant colours glowed in the sunlight that streamed into his studio.

Dr Bhawani Shankar Sharma, whose passion and forte is fresco painting, took us through the process of painting frescoes, the mineral colours used and the need to develop one’s own vision. A fresco of a colourful village fair adorned one wall of his home and from behind a bright, multi-hued wood screen that he had painted, his sari-clad wife emerged with a platter of home-made sweets.

Young Pravin Mhase (grandson of a Padma Shri Awardee) demonstrated the geometric forms of nature-inspired Warli art and generously praised our clumsy efforts while Sai Kiran helped us to navigate the intricacies of Cheriyal mask-making, a 12th century art form and a family legacy. And Asharam Meghwal who is inspired by the history and folk tales of Rajasthan paints figures that are so fine and detailed that we had to use, at times, a magnifying glass to discern them.

When, we, digital newbies, installed the Rooftop app and explored it, we found it easy to navigate and it absorbed us visually with its dollops of colour. With a few swipes of our screen, we had access to artforms that artists in India are struggling to preserve in a digitally saturated world. As Kartik noted, “Not only is the app a gateway to exploring Indian art but one roof for all art experiences…”

At present, there are over 2,000 art ‘experiences’ available on the app. By the term experiences, the app’s creators mean live workshops and maestro courses which are unique and curated with care. Information on the art form and its processes are distilled in an easily digestible way in Hindi and English.

The Rooftop business model has two major drivers – live art workshops and maestro courses. There is a Subscription Model and a Direct Payout Model. For the first genre, artists get a fee for each workshop they conduct. The Maestro Courses come under the Direct Payout Model (artists get a royalty against the sale of their course) which a user can purchase for a fee and complete at his or her own pace. An art buff also has the option to book a 30-minute exclusive session with a master artist.

This niche app is owned by a bootstrapped (self-funded) company called Slo-Mo Experiences and was launched with an investment of Rs 2.5 crore. In the next few months, plans are afoot to roll out an additional 20 Indian art forms. In order to tap a global audience, Rooftop plans to offer translations of their courses in several foreign languages.

Back in Mumbai, we gazed at the mask that we had created and the Warli painting that we had done in Jaipur . Their grievous flaws had been masked by a few deft strokes by the artists themselves. They ignited in memory our art-filled weekend in Jaipur – a painted canvas of women in billowing skirts, men in multi-coloured turbans, twirling handlebar moustaches at wayside tea stalls and glorious floodlit palaces.

Rooftop can be downloaded from Google Play and App Store.

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