Mumbai: When Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde answered a midnight knock (Saturday-Sunday) at his Thane home, he was in for a dazzling 61st birthday surprise.
As the family was readying to greet him a ‘Happy Birthday’, a few close friends, including senior media personality Rajesh Kocharekar and others entered with a large packet.
While the ex-CM and Shiv Sena chief plus others waited with bated breaths, the packet was unveiled in silence.
It revealed a glittering, glowing and glamorous masterpiece in 19,000 diamonds – showing a smiling bespectacled Shinde, with his trademark dark beard, white shirt, a smile and a red ‘tilak’ – lusciously twinkling before them.
Initially at a loss of words, a visibly impressed Shinde acknowledged it, saying he ‘loved’ it, and his family was ‘thrilled with the art-piece’, crafted painstakingly by Mumbai-based artist Shailesh Acharekar.
“I could not remain present last night, but will go and meet the Deputy CM soon… The diamond portrait was commissioned for the occasion and it took me a little over 10 weeks of toiling. It has been kept at his home,” Acharekar told ‘The Perfect Voice’.
Giving details, Acharekar said that the portrait is made on a 3-feet x 4-feet tough blackboard and comprises a mix of Preciosa and Swarovski diamonds of varying sizes ranging from 2 to 5 mm and colours.
He said that he first studied different pictures/portraits of Shinde and then selected the most suitable diamonds for the image and the desired outcome.
Working hard, many a times round-the-clock, Acharekar held the precious stones upright with a pincer, dipped them in a special quick-drying glue, and then stuck them at the correct spot in harmony with the big, small and medium others around it.
“Since most diamonds are usually colourless or whitish, they were integrated with the Swarovskis for the colourful effect as light falls on them from different sides, creating a magical multi-hued impact," Acharekar said.
This is the third important ‘diamond effect’ artwork created by Acharekar in the past one year. The first masterpiece was dedicated to the (undivided) Shiv Sena founder, the late Balasaheb K. Thackeray, made with 27,000 diamonds, which was gifted to his son and Shiv Sena (UBT) President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray in July 2024.
Later, Acharekar made a portrait of the legendary industrialist Ratan N. Tata with 13,000 diamonds and was keen to present it to him on his birthday (December 28), but he passed away on October 9, 2024.
“This is my third major work for a VIP. Very soon I plan to unveil a couple of diamond portraits of some top national leaders,” said Acharekar with a mysterious smile, but declined to reveal their names for now.
An ex-advertising professional, Acharekar, 47, strayed into the art world in 2005 through painting and short films for which he has bagged over 160 awards from around the world.
He grinned and said his artistic motto is “to create something unprecedented and memorable for all to cherish eternally – as Diamonds Are Forever”.
Modi calls Shinde 'dynamic grassroots leader'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday wished Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on his birthday and said he is a dynamic grassroots leader whose life has been devoted to developing the state.
"Best wishes to Shri Eknath Shinde Ji on his birthday. He is a dynamic grassroots leader whose life has been devoted to developing Maharashtra and fulfilling the vision of Pujya Balasaheb Thackeray and Dharamveer Anand Dighe," Modi said in a post on X.
"May he be blessed with a long and healthy life in service of the people," he said.
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