Old musical melodies, nostalgia for Bollywood’s Golden Age and sheer adulation for Bombay cinestars, was the theme for the preview show at Noida’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art on 6 February.
Sepia-toned portraits of Madhuri Dixit, Nargis, Dilip Kumar, Kishore Kumar and many others were lined up to display the grit and beauty of the eminent photographer Jethalal H Thakker’s work.
The exhibition offers a snippet of a particular chapter from the long history of celluloid in the subcontinent—the crucial decades roughly between 1947 and 1968—and it is open to the public from 7 February to 20 April.
The celebration of Bollywood personalities in these photographs is an ode to an era of enduring star power and glamour, a phenomenon that is fast eroding in the time of influencers.
“I have a very personal and deep relationship with Bollywood. I was always a big movie buff. Moreover, I also resonate very much with photography as a medium of art. Thus, bringing this collection of photographs and showing these old works is simply so poignant,” Kiran Nadar, Indian philanthropist and art collector told ThePrint.
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Portraits from the Golden Era
The exhibition titled ‘Sitaare Zameen Par: Portrait Photographs of Bombay Cinestars from the Golden Era,’ was no less than a constellation of some of the most powerful faces in the industry.
As mellow-lighting set a mood of remembrance, famous personalities such as Sharmila Tagore, fashion designer Pranay Baidya and Yasmin Kidwai also came to admire the showcase.
Photographer Jethalal H. Thakker (1923 – 2003) was a partition refugee who set up the famous India Photo Studio in Mumbai’s Dadar in 1948. In silver gelatin print, he produced images that look stellar in modern surroundings, even today.
His exquisite techniques made sure that the stars he was photographing would glitter and glimmer.
“I had lit oil lamps once and then I visualized that the smoke coming from an oil lamp just extinguished would create a nice drama effect after adding backlight and imagined that this is really working well. This way I had done Anwar Hussain’s photo where he is holding a pistol and I ordered someone with a cigarette to stand behind him,” the exhibition documents Thakker explaining one of his methods.
What truly stood out to the audience was the clarity of the images in the exhibition and how light seemed to dance off the variety of expressions Thakkar had captured. Alongside portraits, there were also some stills from old movies, which many viewers struggled to place.
“The quality of the film is exceptional, and I had no idea it was so good at the time. It just seems so different from what I’m used to. I’ve always seen these icons on the screen in worse, shaky quality. Now I finally know what my favourite stars looked like,” said Sanjana Rishi, a fashion and sustainability influencer and founder of Nindia Loungewear who attended the event.
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Celebrating Bollywood
In another room, alongside the exhibition hall, canapés and cocktails weren’t the only thing the guests enjoyed. A choir from Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College was present, singing all the old songs, celebrating the legacy of JH Thakkar and his capture of Bollywood artists.
The walls were also lined with posters with blanks to fill in old song lyrics, a fun game that seemed to be more popular among the seniors, as they dabbled and laughed their way through it.
Even though the younger generation wasn’t necessarily adept at recognising all the film stars in the showcase or the song lyrics, they basked in the glory of a bygone era. A group of 20-something women perused through all the pictures of Nargis Dutt, and giggled about how she was the only one other than Madhuri Dixit whom they recognised in a room full of portraits.
However, one of them said, “But they all look beautiful. I’m not sure which man’s photo is exactly near the entrance, but that is the best one.” And that itself seems to adequately serve Kiran Nadar’s purpose of bringing these archives to the public.
“When the younger generation sees these stars, I know they will relate to it. Even though they might not know all these people, they will appreciate the art itself and some knowledge will start coming in,” said Nadar.
Cinema in India has quintessentially been nothing less than a magical experience. And bringing these portraits back to life, has mimicked exactly that. The modern moviegoers currently swarming into shopping malls for a digitally mediated multiplex experience are largely unfamiliar to such a visceral yet otherworldly realm of Indian cinema.
But Thakkar’s legacy thrived in a bustling room of more than 50 people who were present just to admire his life’s work. His ode to the stars of Hindi cinema, was no less than an ode to himself.
“In 2003, the expert lensman joined his beloved stars in the night sky, leaving behind countless photographs and memories of an era of filmic time,” says Roobina Karode, the chief curator of the showcase.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)