Hooray for Bollywood…

 

This month marks the centenary of Bollywood – the garish, larger-than-life dream factory that enraptures Indian audiences worldwide. Five years ago I was commissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine to photograph Ronnie Screwvalla, the millionaire film producer and founder of the UTV group over a couple of days in Mumbai. Screwvalla proved charming if extraordinarily busy. I photographed him at home and at his studios but realising that he would make a good potential cover, pursuaded his nervous PR staff (they’re always nervous aren’t they?) to let me have twenty minutes with him at a Mumbai beach near where he grew up. Originally, I’d wanted him walking along the beach but it soon became clear that that wasn’t going to happen. I arrived early and had my star-struck driver hold a single strobe as Screwvalla emerged from his limo. The picture lasted no more than five minutes before he had to leave. It never made the cover but I’ve always liked it.

 

 

India - Mumbai - Ronnie Screwvala, CEO of UTV, at Sea Face Bay  in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India..As a producer and businessman, over the past five years Screwvala has led the transformation of India's prolific but chaotic film industry to become a crossover figure in Hollywood and Bollywood...
India – Mumbai – Ronnie Screwvala, CEO of UTV photographed at Sea Face Bay. As a producer and businessman over the past five years Screwvala has led the transformation of India’s prolific but chaotic film industry to become a crossover figure in Hollywood and Bollywood.

Intolerance

It appears that the great Indian artist, MF Husain has accepted citizenship from Qatar after having to live in exile in London and Dubai since 2006. It may well close one of the saddest episodes in secular India: Husain, now 95, has been the target of Hindu fundamentalists after his depiction of naked Hindu goddesses. The Indian government has been unable to protect either his property or his personal safety and so one of India’s most famous sons is now unlikely ever to return to his home. I photographed him in Mumbai (then Bombay) about a dozen years ago for the Independent on Sunday Magazine. He was as charming as he was extraordinarily talented.

India - Mumbai - MF Husain
India - Mumbai - MF Husain with an image of his muse, Maduri Dixit


India - Mumbai - MF Husain with an image of his muse, Maduri Dixit