NFAI acquires over 1,000 photos of Marathi cinema

Pune: The National Film Archive of India has acquired over 1,000 photographs of Marathi cinema clicked by photographer Sadananad Ajrekar between 1946 and 1952. The photographs were donated to the NFAI by Ajrekar’s daughter, Shambhavi Bal. Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, Prakash Magdum, NFAI director, said, “Despite being decades old, all the photographs are well maintained. We will soon begin the process of digitising them.”Ajrekar, who worked as a photographer in Pune for Navyug and the Prabhat Film Company, had captured moments of several artists while they shot for the movies. This collection includes several stalwarts like Sulochana, Raja Paranjape and Hansa Wadkar. He worked as a still photographer for several movies like Jaga Bhadyane Dene Aahe (1949), Var Pahije (1950), Sharada (1951), Narveer Tanaji (1952), Een Meen Sadeteen (1954) and Teen Mule (1954).Magdum said most of the photographs depict Ajrekar’s love for lighting.Bal, who was present at the news conference, said it was her father’s passion for photography that he preserved these pictures with utmost care. “He also made sure that best quality photo paper was used while developing the pictures. After his demise in 2001, we kept a check on these photographs and took care to ensure that they did not get damaged,” she said.She said her father used a Rolleiflex camera and had in-depth knowledge about camera lenses and which one to use in what kind of lighting to turn ordinary photographs into pieces of art.Speaking about her father, Bal said, “My father was never fond of being in the limelight. He was determined, as an artist, to passionately and sincerely work on every aspect of the job at hand and took his art very seriously. He also made it a point to nurture and preserve his work with utmost care, as if it were his own child.”Of the 1,000 photographs, around 500 have been identified. For the rest, film scholars have to be roped in to identify the movies and the people in the photographs, Magdum said.