To shoot a fickle city

Namas Bhojani

To capture a city in all its colours and peculiarities is a daunting task for any photographer. And if the city is as much of a pot-pourri and pulsating as Mumbai, the task becomes even more complicated. But Namas Bhojani, the photo editor of Cosmopolitan, has managed to gracefully disrobe Mumbai, revealing the beauty hidden in the nuances and the chaos of the city in his ongoing exhibition in the city.

Namas was the photo editor for Business Today and covered the Gulf War for India Today. His work has been published in Time, Newsweek and Asia Week. He is also the co-author of the book, Bombay ( A Contemporary Account of Mumbai), a fascinating photo-chronicle on the city. The book came from his experience with the magazine, Bombay, with which he started his career in the early 80s. His work there saw him shooting the entire gamut — from politicians, movie stars and business tycoons, to slumdwellers, underworld shootouts and natural disasters. But despite the diversity of his exposure, no author can truthfully claim that he knows what Mumbai is all about. This book certainly doesn’t. At the very outset, the authors makes clear the futility of trying to pin down an impulsive, everchanging and impudent city in an ornate frame. "Mumbai is a complex amalgam of corrupt beauty and homely charm … documenting it, especially in the flinty, cocky, neurotic 90s, is an impossible task," the book says. That statement does not come from a desire to pre-empt criticism, but from first hand experience. Harper Collins offered to publish the book in 1992, but it came out only in 1995 –despite Namas having amassed a huge stock of photos on Mumbai, he had to reshoot most. "They city had changed and my perspective on it had changed," he says. And a memorable passage in his book explains the uphill task he faced: "Everything in Mumbai works along the lines of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. It doesn’t matter who you are. No one really cares. Unless you are in the gossip columns or have a film star draped around your arm, and then, only just."

The exhibition has a collection of over 50 photos, largely taken from the book. The pictures are a fascinating account of a city in the throes of its poverty and the towering glory of its nightlife. A picture is worth a thousand words and with Namas’s collection, you won’t know where to begin. "The photos talk of the people caught in their uniqueness. It is about their lives and experiences," he says.

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The peak hour crowd on CST station makes a sharp contrast with the crowd at the rock concert, carrying a huge banner proclaiming, "We are in heaven". You are taken on a trip to the slums and the pubs and shown the insides of buildings. Dabbawallas compete with Mercedes imports for space on the crowded roads. and camera-equipped tourists outnumber the pigeons at Gateway of India. A man blows on a trumpet while a poorly clad child watches him, with slippers in her hands. The clouds make beautiful patterns in the sunset sky while a girl watches the dance of a monkey at Marine Drive, with towering buildings behind her. A couple drinks and parties at a discotheque while people crouch below gunny sacks to escape the pounding rain. Each picture has a story to tell and it forces you to listen, spellbound and mute. But the underlying message is of dynamism and raw energy that flows through the streets of Mumbai and out of the photographs. "A city that intrigues and exasperates, but unfailingly inspires," says the book. And after looking at the photographs, you know why.

The exhibition is on at Piramal Gallery, NCPA. Till May 18, 1997.