New Delhi: Wong Kar-wai made his cult classic In The Mood For Love in 2000, and since then, his exploration of love and longing in the near-claustrophobic living accommodations of Hong Kong has inspired visual artists everywhere. Drawing inspiration from the auteur’s masterpiece, 25-year-old artist Varad Bang translated the film’s emotional landscape into 18 evocative paintings for his debut solo exhibition titled ‘The Weight of Love’.
The paintings are complemented by the spatial design of Sumant Jayakrishnan, who created a boudoir-like space, inviting people to step in and experience the reimagination of Wong’s movie through the paintings. The exhibition is currently on display till 11 May at Gallery Pristine Contemporary in Delhi.
Bang saw the film during his college days in Florence, Italy. What began as an exploration of world cinema fuelled his artistic journey. “The film left a deep impression on me, both visually and emotionally. The pauses, unspoken feelings, and use of space made me think about how love often exists in what is left unsaid and is about fate and missed chances,” said Bang.
Wong’s film captures a sense of longing and emotional restraint, as two neighbours, Mr. Chow (Tony Leung) and Mrs. Chan (Maggie Cheung), form a bond over their spouses’ infidelity. As time passes, they realise their own feelings for each other, which are never fully explored. The film’s slow pacing, rich visuals, and haunting soundtrack evoke the 1960s Hong Kong, and yet it remains a timeless exploration of unfulfilled desire and heartache.
25 years of In The Mood for Love
Bang creates some moments from the film, whether the two meeting for the first time, or a moment travelling in the car when they are dealing with their own feelings about each other. He even paints two scenes that were deleted from the film, where the two have sex.
The artist’s works were complemented by Sumant Jayakrishnan’s spatial design. Stepping into the air-conditioned gallery premises from the overwhelming heat and traffic of Kotla Mubarakpur, one is immediately transported to a world of reds. It starts with a gentle blend of red and green, deepening into crimson—the space is a nod to the feeling of falling in love, and longing for that one person.
“The film came out almost 25 years ago, and I think it’s the perfect time to take a look in retrospect, and this exhibition,” said co-curator and founder of the gallery Arjun Butani. In 2023, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also paid homage to Wong Kar-wai in their genre-bending Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022).
At the Delhi exhibition, a foldable three-part mirror with a settee in front invites guests to look inwards, mirroring a painting where two lovers are caught passionately making out, reflected in a mirror. The concept urges viewers to peer into the two lovers’ entangled lives and passion. The design also had a dinner table set for four, and telephones, reminding viewers of the film’s set.
“You will see a reference to these spaces and elements in how the paintings follow a sequence, with divisions within the gallery via separations created by drapes, wallpaper, the furniture and accessories, and lighting. We want the viewers to have an immersive experience and soak it all in,” said Butani.
Also read: Goldie Anand was the architect of cinematic rebellion. Guide centered a morally complex woman
The red of yearning
Wong Kar-wai’s distinctive use of rich reds influences Bang’s palette choices. “In his films, red isn’t just a colour but conveys emotions like passion, longing, and even restraint,” said Bang.
It was the visual language of Wong Kar-wai’s cinema that struck a chord with the young artist. Bang found parallels between the controlled lighting, warm tones, and careful framing of the works of Vermeer and Manet. Dealing with a heartbreak of his own, his paintings became a way of negating the many colours of falling in love, of loss, heartache, and nostalgia.
“The exhibition evoked a sense of yearning along with parting, which the entire curation revolved around. Wong Kar-wai’s very aesthetic was translated to the room itself by Arjun and Sumant turning the gallery into a set of In the Mood for Love itself with dainty telephones at every corner and an aesthetic that was reminiscent of a Hong Kong at the turn of the millennium,” said Sweta Kushwaha, a film studies scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Bang’s paintings and Wong Kar-wai’s world stay with the viewer long after they step back into the chaos of Delhi summer, tugging at memories of lost loves—just as the young artist intended with his body of work.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)