Full of dreams
 With his creative outbursts, young Kirubaharan's is ready to take on life in his colorful terms, writes SOMA BASU
 I first met this young and ambitious creative individual at a gathering  where he was quietly sitting and making pencil sketches of people who  were interested in sitting in front of him for seven minutes. And in  that time, I noticed, he deftly moved his pencil all over the sheet,  occasionally looking up at his model's face and never used an eraser.  Once he had done about 15-odd sketches, the sitting time reduced to  three minutes and his sketches got more close to the original. 
Impressed, I chatted up M.Kirubaharan, a gifted  multi-tasker, who finds it difficult to contain his excitement and  interest when it comes to art and creativity. 
Partially, he shares, it is to do with his genes given  the fact that he comes from a family of artists. But then belonging to  one such big family where every sibling is gifted and is into drawing,  painting or sketching, parents perhaps tend to take their children for  granted.
“Since everybody could draw in my family, my parents did  not encourage me much. Moreso, I was the youngest of five brothers and  sisters. They wanted me to take up a profession which would bring in a  steady income. But my heart was unwilling to listen. I wanted to be an  artist only,” says 23 years old M.Kirubaharan.
Inspiration
As a child too, this Madura Labour Welfare Association  School student was always ruled by his imaginary world of colours and  images. “My eldest brother was my inspiration. He used to do posters in  colours and I used to sit next to him scribbling everything he made, in  pencil.”
What started as innocuous sketches by a young boy  started firming up in his growing years. And on his own, he digressed  into art from waste, vegetable carving, chalk sculpting, creative arts  from poster making to canvass painting, winning many prizes at several  competitions at all levels from primary to High School. 
Low scores in Class X Board exams angered his parents so  much that they made this Bal Shree Award winner join the Institute of  Hotel Management in Chennai for three year course in catering  technology.
But the artist in him refused to die and he took to  vegetable carving during his course. “It is a sought after skill in the  hospitality industry and I decided to be more innovative cas I was  enjoying moving my knife on pumpkins and water melons. If people mostly  made caves and roses in beetroot, I carved out a ganesha out of it and  it was much appreciated.” 
Obviously, his parents gave up on him but he did not  give up on his passion. He returned to his hometown and joined The  American College for a degree in visual communication. “Given my drawing  skills, I am attracted to animation but during my study I realized  direction is more powerful and I ended up writing two scripts,” he says.
Well known documentary film director R.P.Amudhan  inspired young Kirubaharan when he came to the department for a  workshop. Much against his parents' wishes, he joined him and  accompanied him for the shoot of five films during his three years of  study. “With him I got totally involved in art and short films,” he says  with a longing for joining the Kollywood. And good news has come in as  he has just joined as an Assistant Director to Simbudevan.
“My work with him is yet to begin but one day I dream to  make a full length art film on my own, which will be more emotional and  issue-based,” says this young Madurai boy whose dreams have set him on a  long journey.
His mind, he admits, is cluttered with multiple ideas  and his fingers always itching to create multiple things. And he doesn't  let either of his aspirations down. He does lot of odd jobs to earn his  pocket money but is confident of becoming a film maker on sensitive  themes one day. He is already ready with a short fiction of 30 minutes  which shows how life style changes make man into a machine. 
Earlier, he helped Discovery Channel in filming  Jallikattu. “My parents no longer bother me, I think they have tacitly  agreed to what I like doing,” he smiles. He is called at various places  to do face painting other than pencil sketches and is quite a hit at  local gatherings. 
An avid film watcher, Kirubaharan minces no words while  saying, “I live life on my terms.” When he hates to draw, he even turns  into a blacksmith and makes small studs from broken wrought iron pieces.  It is difficult to describe this young boy but what he establishes  clearly is that only those who dare to dream and defy are achievers.  That is why he is our young hero in today's column. 
( Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and  events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail to  somabasu@thehindu.co.in to tell about someone you know who is making a  difference) 

 
 
 
 
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