Octogenarian Ali exhibits his photographs

MUMBAI: He made even the greyish steel interior of a coal factory appear classy. He also breathed beauty into the dull burnt bricks of a half-constructed industrial plant.
For Ahmed Ali--who captured India in her pioneering stages of industrial development within the frames of his camera -- the journey from the dark room to the limelight has been a long but positive one.
For the pioneer in industrial and advertising photography Ahmed Ali, whose work is currently being exhibited in Mumbai, the discovery of India before-Independence to the current phase, has been punctuated by interesting anecdotes, holistic experiences and several milestones.
The octogenarian Ali''s repetoire varies from freezed photographs of celebrities, legendary advertisement launches, events and tribals to the most dominating of all--photographs of industrial development in post-independence India.
"Luckily I got into photography when the second World War was nearly ending and the British were almost in the process of leaving India. The Union Carbide Company at that time was looking for a man who knew the technical details of camera; could promote their product through excellent photographs. I was selected to shoot the pictures of their factories to be used for advertisements", recounts Ali.
Ali soon transformed greasy steel interiors, the greyish rubble of factory sites, the gigantic levers and cranes of industries into classy ''calendar photographs''.
"So happy was the management, that I was offered 100 guineas, whose value would have been around Rs 25000 in the 1940''s. The payment was equivalent to the amount paid to any professional back in London", he smiles nostalgically.
And as offers poured in from industrial houses, Ali soon found himself travelling to interior parts of India shooting photographs of tea, textiles, tyres to steel--in short the phase of "Developing India".
"There were no digital cameras in those days nor any automatic cameras. I used to compose the photograph in my head, rehearse it several times, ensure the smallest detail and then the shoot the film", Ali said.
"Nowadays a photographer can go shooting 20-30 films at a time. But I could expose one to three films and then painstaikingly develop it in my blackroom. I still have three lakh negatives in my studio", he says -- a fact that is fully supported by his daughter and former beauty queen Nafisa Ali.
"Dad has arranged his negative so systematically that you only have to tell him the photograph you are looking for and the year, and it will be produced in a jiffy", she laughs aloud. Nafisa, herself has been captured within the frames of Ali''s camera, for varying products from baby food, garments to radios.
However, Ali''s all time favourite photograph remains when he shot his two toddlers, Nafisa and her sister sitting amidst tins of paint boxes for a famous advertisement of a paint company. "I knew even then that Nafisa would hit it big in the beauty field. She always had the looks. I have over 1000 photographs shot with her as my subject", he adds.
Nafisa admits that her father''s obsession for clicking snaps has rubbed on her too. "I had my own camera and would help Dad in the dark room. I know the nuances about photography right from clicking to developing it," she adds. However, though Nafisa had her mentor in her father, for Ali there had been no family role model to fall back on.
"In fact I got interested in photography only when one of my aunts accidentally presented me with a box camera in 1935. Seeing my enthusiasm and passion, my mother soon presented me with a better camera with which I not only took photographs but also indigeniously converted into an enlarger."
Ali was soon rewarded for his capabilities when the principal at the boarding school he studied in, alloted him a small cubicle to use as dark room on the condition that he did not use it after ''light out''.
His journey from the little dark room in the boarding to limelight was completed when the Director of Engieenring Export Council of India called him in a state of panic because though India had entered the International Industries Exhibition in Bangkok, the council did not have a single photograph to display!
With only 20 days to go Ali recollects how he could come up with photographs of 59 out of the 60 industries required to be represented. "Within two weeks giant enlargements upto 16 feet were freighted to Bangkok for the India pavilion", adds one of his close friends.
Along with Ali''s ''calendra photographs'', which were a real hit, his close ups of celebrities also prove interesting along with the little anecdotes woven around them.
Referring to the 1968 photograph of a leaner and much younger looking Amitabh Bachchan staring from the framed photograph much before the actor tangoed with Lady fame, Ali turns to Amitabh (who inaugurated the exhibtion) and inquires -- "Do you remember when this was shot."
Dusting the cobwebs from the superstar''s mind, he reminds Amitabh how he (Amitabh) approached him on advise of friends that he should have his photograph (the concept of portfolio was still nascent then) clicked by Ali if he wished to foray into modelling. "I felt pity for Amitabh then because only girls were in demand for modelling. There were no advertisements demanding male models in Kolkata then", says Ali.
"I remember telling Amitabh to go to Mumbai where there was some demand for males to feature in advertisments for shirting and suiting", chuckles Ali with the superstar joining him; his memory refreshed.
"Yes I faintly remember the incident. However, though the photograph is good, I am afraid the subject was not as good", Amitabh quips in his usual modest style and almost willingly concedes to Ali request to complete his repetoire by shooting an ''elderly Amitabh'' too.
Pointing to a black and white photograph of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Ali says, "Jinnah had come to Kolkata for a Congress session. I shot this snap when he had dropped at the residence of his sister, whom I knew well+.
His prized collection include photographs of the Maharaja of Cooch, Tiger Tenzing, conqueror of Mount Everest, the young 1952 portrait of Satyajit Ray before he stepped into film making and the 1966 profile of Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan.
The irrestible countenance of actress Suchitra Sen in 1954 as well as the stunning snapshot of the doe-eyed 1957 beauty queen Indrani and the innocent twinkling eyes of his daughter and 1976 beauty title holder Nafisa Ali also form part of his repetoire.
Ahmed Ali''s work also include the images of tribal people of Bastar in interior Madhya Pradesh. The collection was commissioned by the Director of the Indian Institute of Art in Industry, to capture the neglected side of India.
Ali''s understanding of the outdoors and unquestioned mastery of the camera had made him a perfect candidate to underake an expedition to the remote, deep jungles of Madhya Pradesh, to capture with rare sensitivity the tribal area, sans roads, medical facilities and education.
Interestingly Ali''s romance with photography continues with old fashioned ''Nikon camera''. "There are many more technologically superior cameras in the market but I continue to use my old fashioned camera", he adds.
The play of light, focus, vision, and clarity is what makes Ali''s photograph stand apart. His stark black and white photographs and the strong human element added even to the layers and layers of concrete steel---make him stand tall.
A 1950 photograph of a non-punch line Coke Ad shot with a model in the black and white era reveals the powerful photogenic eye of a man could see business in a black and white photograph even way back then.
For 80-year old Ali, the passion to wield the camera continues unabated to this day---akin to the enthusiasm and spirit he represents---the spirit of Free India.