Former Pixar artist illustrates ancient Hindu tale

Patel spoke about his book to an audience of roughly 90 in McCormick 101 on Thursday evening. Patel and Vineet Chander, coordinator of the Hindu Life Program, casually discussed the origins of Patel’s work and its relation to Hinduism. The program was followed by an Indian-themed reception complete with Chai tea.

“Ramayana: Divine Loophole,” published in February, tells the story of Rama, a god king who rescues his kidnapped wife Sita. To Hindus, the story of Ramayana is “something that’s a very ancient and sacred text,” Patel said. “And since my parents were Hindu, growing up in this country the imagery and the practice was in the house, but I didn’t really pay attention to it.”

Patel recalled that his father would perform the puja rituals twice daily, waking the deities central to Hinduism with song in the morning and removing the gods’ flowers and feeding them fresh fruit at night. As a child living in the United States, “none of it made any sense to me. I just wanted to be like what I saw on TV ... I just wanted to be sort of American,” Patel said.

In his career at Pixar, he has helped create popular films like “Monsters, Inc.,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.”

But as an adult, Patel was also drawn to the religious customs he learned about as a child. As he told the audience, he “started moving out of the Renaissance section of the gallery and started moving towards the south Asian section.”

“I wanted to know more about … what these images were trying to tell us,” he continued.

Though he was drawn to Hindu images, the spark for Patel’s book project actually came when he found an English translation of the ancient Sanskrit epic.

“As I was reading this, I just knew for sure that it had to be illustrated,” Patel said. “It was just begging to be retold in a really graphic and modern way that will engage people ... I never grasped onto it [as a child] because it was never presented in a way that would speak to me.”

Patel decided to take time off from Pixar to focus on the project.

The result, Patel said, “would hopefully be accessible to anyone without even a foundational knowledge of these stories ... It’s something a little Disney and a little pop art, but I hope that it can embody these ancient stories.”

While creating his work, Patel made efforts to maintain the story’s significance and to afford the respect deserved by such an ancient tale, he said. He added that he was honored to be part of such a long line of artists depicting the ancient story.

The lecture was cosponsored by the University Art Museum and the Hindu Life Program, now in its third year. Chander said he has been pleased with the program’s promotion of discussion, adding that “maybe it isn’t about the individual events as much as what happens in between events.” Chander continued that he “wants to bring light onto a community that is often left out of it.”

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Prachi Parihar ’13 said she enjoyed the lecture. “I was a little unsure about the way he described his motivation for starting the project,” Parihar said. “But I was happy that it seemed like he eventually got his entire heart into the project.”