As a young girl, when Haritha Chitta sold miniature paintings at flea markets in Hyderabad, she was discouraged by people bargaining for art. Back then, the free-spirited artist created miniature framestagged at ₹250.
Many years later, she has found herself immersed in art, creating nostalgic narration from her childhood days. Haritha (@haritha_chitta) started a series titled Aarojulu Gurthunnaya (Do you remember those days) on Instagram. It is an infinity series; a picture hidden in a picture in loop, with a narration. Her style of narration with art and animation makes the series different and stand out from the hundreds of nostalgic pieces that one comes across on social media
Haritha’s sketches from the Aarojulu Gurthunnaya (Do you remember those days) series
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In ‘Aarojulu Gurthunnaya’ she rekindles memories of her ‘90s childhood. She started the series with the joy of eating multi-coloured fryums, riding a scooter with dad to go the market and so on. Currently on her 15th episode, Haritha says she continues the series only because the comments warm her heart. This series has garnered likes from celebrities such as director Nandini Reddy, actor-director Srinivas Avasarala, actor Swathi Reddy, Jhansi, Gayathri Bhargavi, singer Geetha Madhuri and more, much to Haritha’s surprise. She says, “It is not just my art that caught people’s attention.; the animation and narration made people pause and pay attention .”
Haritha’s ketches from the Aarojulu Gurthunnaya (Do you remember those days) series
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Settled in Delaware, USA, Haritha was born in Hyderabad, grew up in Bengaluru and Chennai and then moved back Hyderabad to complete her degree in architecture. Haritha says, “My love for art comes from my mother; she is a traditional artist who does pot painting, watercolours and the like. I have always felt artists never get their due in their lifetime. My belief was further strengthened when I met people bargaining for art; that’s when I started keeping my art to myself.”
How did Haritha get to start the series? “I am also into digital art as a hobby. I would doodle often and enjoyed painting memories from my childhood. My husband encouraged me to share my art on social media. He got me an iPad and insisted that I try new things. Gradually I found myself learning animation and voice integration with videos. My first post that went viral was Accham choodataniki mee amma laga unnav antaru (you look exactly like your mother, they say) with 1 million views. That surprised me; I was overwhelmed that people took time not just to listen to my narration but also leave a comment,” Haritha adds.
Some of her other viral posts are about school days, visiting grandparents, story of a grown up girl to name a few.
Haritha’s ketches from the Aarojulu Gurthunnaya (Do you remember those days) series
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To her surprise, she also got offers to do TV series promos for Gemini TV and on collaboration projects with Chaibiskit. She currently has a project for Zee Telugu. “While I work on these projects, I will continue with Aarojulu Gurthunnaya series just to enjoy good old days with many like us,” she says.
Apart from Aarojulu Gurthunnaya, she regularly updates her feed with other musings.