Artist fraternity shocked with fellow painter Hema Upadhyay’s ‘brutal’ death

The double murder has shocked the artists’ fraternity after the body of painter Hema Chintan Upadhyay was found in a drain. Commenting on the matter, Hema’s father-in-law, V.S. Upadhyay said, “I’m not in a position to doubt anyone, police investigation will reveal facts.”

Raj More, a contemporary painter, and friend of Hema, recalled her as a cheerful and passionate human being and a prominent painter, with a great soul. “We can’t accept the news of her brutal death. It has shaken us, and the moment I got to know about her death from a WhatsApp message, I immediately contacted all our friends and rushed to the police station.

Another friend, who did not wish to be named, recalling Hema’s starting days said, “I have known them since they were in love and decided to marry. The art was the reason they came closer and after this whatever happened in her life she remained strong and her art always spoke loud instead of her words.”

Hema was popular as one of the rising stars of her generation of artists. Born Hema Hirani in Baroda in 1972, she studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Sayajirao University. There she met and married Chintan Upadhyay in 1992 and moved to Mumbai in 1998.

Hema and her husband, also known as the poster couple of art world came into limelight when Hema filed a case against Chintan under the Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act. In her complaint, she had stated that Chintan had been making obscene paintings on the walls of her room in their marital home located in Juhu in Mumbai. She claimed that her estranged husband was doing so to humiliate her. After this in 2010 they separated. Thereafter, Chintan moved to Delhi and Hema stayed back in Mumbai.