BodyCanvas today is one of the biggest and leading tattoo parlor and piercing studio in India. Having been in the tattoos industry since 1998, ‘Body Canvas Tattoos & Piercings’ offers a team of experienced and highly skilled tattoo artists, their artists have received their training in UK & Europe. BodyCanvas artists have mastered different types of tattoo art and styles trending in the tattoo world.
Founded by sibling duo Vikas and Mickey Malani, BodyCanvas is a go-to tattoo parlour in the Bollywood circuit. Celebs like Remo D’Souza, John Abraham and Alok Nath have graced their studio. Their work has also been showcased on the silver screens with Aamir Khan for Dhoom 3, Anushka Sharma for Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola, Priyanka Chopra for Pyaar Impossible, Fardeen Khan for All the Best, Anil Kapoor for Tashan, MS Dhoni for Max Oil TVC and Shahrukh Khan for Dish TV Advertisement.
We managed to catch up with Vikas Malani in the middle of a hectic day, which is nearly every day at BodyCanvas. He took his first steps into the tattooing in 1998 when he was body painting at the time. He then realized that my passion for body painting was a permanent one. “People would ask me if I could give them something that would last for long, and not just for a week or 10 days, that’s when tattooing came to my mind”, explains Vikas. He started professional tattooing in 2001 when he met his mentor from Barcelona, who really saw potential in him. “The fact that it came from an experienced person made it easier for me to understand the technicality of tattooing”, he said.
The journey to Body Canvas has been a roller-coaster. However, the real challenge for him lies in understanding his clients’ needs. Says Vikas, “The biggest challenge that I face is getting in the clients’ head, for which you need to do a lot of probing and rapport building. After that everything is easy”.
His most favourite tattoo to date, he recalls, was a lotus. “A woman from New York came up to me with a picture of an Indian goddess. She said the picture is about the goddess of studies. I corrected her saying it’s the goddess of money. Although, she was very clear about the concept she was going for”, he laughs Vikas took the lotus from the picture, and put an imprint of Goddess Laxmi, with the Circle of Life being used as a background. He further explains, “It was my most favourite one because of the meaning that I gave to that art”.
The kind of tattoos he tends to favour are more of Indian geometrics, like the Yantras and the Mantras, and spiritual tattoos, because they reflect our Indian culture and heritage. He firmly believes that we should stick to our roots. “People come from across the globe to India, and get tattoos that are in Sanskrit. Whereas we want something more western. I’m happy doing something that is Indian, like filigrees, paisley art, warli, and rural-originating designs. My style is inspired by art that emerges from these rural areas, especially tribal art. We try to inculcate these artworks into our designs”, he says. He, however, notes that are travel-related tattoos are a major demand these days, as are those that are an ode to people’s loved ones.
Vikas concurs that tattoos have gone from a mere mark on the body to a full-fledged fashion statement. He credits this evolution to social media. With hundreds of design ideas available online, people are constantly to come up with something that takes it up a notch from what they see. Mandala, caligraphy, and floral designs have now become the norm. “Today tattoos have evolved not just in terms of art but also creativity”, says Vikas.
His busy schedule is only a reminder of how far he has come from his body-painting days. Whether it’s movie stars, television actors, or cricketers – his clientele just keeps getting bigger and better. And given the number of cities they have made their presence felt in India alone, BodyCanavas is well on their way to world domination!
