The stories behind iconic Indian photos | #120
The real-life love triangle that inspired an Anurag Kashyap film ->
Hello
“It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head.” — Henri Cartier-Bresson
The man is correct. Some photographs capture a particular iconic moment of history and we are left wondering what happened before this moment and what happened after. The true beauty of a photograph is allowing the viewer to imagine all these scenarios and yet the moment that is captured tells the entire story in itself.
They say a picture is worth 1000 words, so our newsletter will be over 4000 words. This week’s longread newsletter is about some iconic Indian photographs and the stories behind them.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
One of the most iconic images of the horrors of partition is the one where BS Kesavan is dividing the books in the Imperial Secretariat Library. It captures the moment of history precisely. And its subject, doing a facepalm, talks about the futility of the exercise. But this is a staged photograph as the partition of books never happened at the Imperial Secretariat Library. The only libraries that had this sort of split, were the ones in states that were under the control of provinces and though there was a proposal to split the books at the Imperial library, it was considered impractical and hence not done. Though staged, this photograph captures the farce of partition well.
Look at the following image and guess where you have definitely seen this image before? Read below for the answer:
The photo shows Mahatma Gandhi exiting the former Viceroy's house aka Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He stands next to Lord Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence. This image of Mahatma Gandhi was cropped and then used in our currency notes! Nobody really knows who took this photograph. Imagine the royalties that would have to be given.
One of India’s greatest industrial tragedies was the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 - a pesticide factory belonging to Union Carbide blew up, releasing over 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate into the atmosphere. Over 20,000 people died. Raghu Rai’s iconic ‘Burial of an unknown child’ captures the horrors of the events. Raghu Rai, returned to Bhopal in 2002 to capture the struggle for justice of the victims of the tragedy.
One of India’s greatest achievements has been its space program. Right from its initiation, the focus has been on harnessing space technology for national development in a cost-effective manner. Nothing reflects that better than the photograph of a key component of India’s first rocket being transported on a cycle in Thumbha, Kerala.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Amrita Pritam’s love triangle was the basis for an Anurag Kashyap film. Read more here.
Martin Luther King visited India and was keen to learn more about Gandhi. Read more about his visit here.
Only In India 🇮🇳
Being a superfan is one thing, this is taking things a bit too far.
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❤️ IWTK