Art News

Daring woman photographer of the earlier era

India’s first women photographer and photographer par excellence of India’s freedom movement Homai Vyarawalla

L.Raghunanda

4^th Estate

Bangalore

If there any one who if has chronicled through her photos of pre independence and after including the gravest of India’s partition of India it is Homai Vyarawalla the first women photographer of India.

Vyarawalla who was very much close to various diplomatic mission might have led her to take photos of leading personalities, events and tumultous period in history of India- partition, but says “ there was absolutely no restriction for anyone to take photograph, and my affinity with persons noted and not so noted ,diplomatic mission helped me.

Vyarawalla who took photos from 1937 till 1970 now aged 98 frail old lady who has been confined to wheel chair, with someone need to assist her kept the same humoric tone something seen in her own photos even said “With myself being the only female photographer at that time, jostled between not just other male photographers but huge crowd to get the real picture”.

Reminiscence of the time Vyarawalla said “ Three of the instance are very much etched in my memory, when Earl Warren the then Chief Justice of USA when he had came to India and was visiting Taj Mahal, I was so engrossed in taking his photos that I fell to water bed surrounding the Taj , then everyone who noticed just said what happened what happened!.

“ Then Dr B.R Ambedkar being the noted figure then when he was entering the Parliament house, eager to take photograph of him, Dr B.R Ambedkar having noticed me struggling between crowd to get the photo stopped me and asked me ‘what were you doing in that rough crowd’ without taking notice of camera and I being photographer, who was to there to take his photograph”.

Vyarawalla who doesn’ t have the strong memory how many photographs she has taken “ it might be more than thousand, in span of three to four decades having being taken photos often now and then, those number can’t be kept”.As one of the leading photographer, that too women photographer to get photo of Bhakra Nangal she even climbed crane to get that beautiful Bhakra Nangal dam

Vyarawalla photographic life which spanned three decades during which she has captured photos of eminent personalities, president and prime ministers, festivals, fashion shows the unique attribute of quality of those photograph is the way it has been brought live, even climbed atop the truck in Sikkim to get glimpse of photo of Indian soldiers marching past the rugged terrain.

When asked with Vyarawalla what made photograph being brought so lively she said “ it was photo taken at split second, if those were not taken at that moment those photos would not have been lively or come real, I was alert all the time, but when it needed patience never drained out”.“Even though we never had such advanced camera of modern times, Speed Graphics which I got from US and Rolling Flexfrom Germany helped me to get right photos, and the most lively photograph however came from Speed Graphics.

“The most appealing photo so to say taken or in other words charming photo taken by my camera was of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Mount Batten, and photos of this personalities when taken off the record means when they were having fun ,frolicking with others at their privacy, not under any politicking made photos probably very alive”.

“But even otherwise, this photos are most charming photos of mine” nodded Vyarawalla But “photos of festival taken during that time that of Ramlila procession 'Eid festival celebration fashion shows were most appealing photos, which received appreciation” said Vyarawalla when asked about the most charming, lively photos taken which she admiredThough city scapes were never left out, when it comes to taking photo very much. , as an established photographer of pre-independence and post –independence period until 1970’s “the most disappointing thing” she said “was not able to take photos of prayer meeting of Mahatma Gandhi at Birla House followed by his assassination”.

“It was my husband wish to be with him on January 30 1948 said Vyarawalla, I missed to take photos of Gandhi assassination, which I wanted at most to take that photo, because I admired Gandhi, not just chronicling the history of independence moment but his role overall was significant, so was his photo” said Vyarawalla.