IDES OF AUTUMN: IN THE BRIEFNESS OF TIME

My introduction to Hemant Chaturvedi could be best described as accidental.

By his own admission, accidents are somewhat frequent with him, and more often than not, they have happy endings. I should include the one with me in that list.

It was during the initial days of the first phase of lock-down – don’t ask me the date, I have lost count long back. There I was, snoozing and whining as usual in my couch like the reclusive potato that I always am, when my cousin brother Partho called me to ask…

“Hey, do you know a cameraman called Hemant Chaturvedi…”

No I didn’t, frankly speaking!

I don’t know many people beyond my limited circle of documentary film makers, and I am not really a film-buff – but I make my living out of Google search, and have an exorbitantly priced broadband connection at home which is more or less reliable.

So I googled – and was zapped.

Hemant got stuck in Delhi with the sudden lock-down. When my brother called he was ambling around their apartment complex making photo essays on what the neighborhood musicians and performing artists were doing during the lock-down.

Since my cousin’s son Prithweesh is a budding keyboard player – he clicked a few stills with him. On the video call, Hemant told me, with what seemed like a sheepish smile from under his mask, “Can’t sit idle at home.”

Here’s one of the photo’s he took, of Prithweesh, lifted from his Facebook page.

Now for the reason why I was zapped!!

Hemant Chaturvedi remains one of the most appreciated cinematographers of Hindi film industry – and many of his films are deservedly considered now as cult-classics. From the gritty realism of ‘Company’ and ‘Maqbool’ – which are my personal favorites, to the complex undercurrents of ‘ Yun Hotaa toh Kya Hota’ and ’15 Park Avenue’ to the tragic passion of ‘Ishaqzaade’ or the intense socio-political rigmarole of ‘Kurbaan’ – his storytelling prowess with the camera and his penchant for variety of themes becomes more than evident.

And here he is, shooting stills at my cousin brother’s place.

I don’t know about Hemant, but my luck is sure taking a turn for the better.

“THE UNCLE TURNED OUT TO BE ISMAIL MERCHANT”

My introduction to world of cinema and to cinematography was accidental.

I had just joined St. Xavier’s College in Bombay, this was 1985, and barely two months into the academic year, our teachers went on strike – for an indefinite period.

During that period of sudden inertia, a newly acquired friend from college called me. During general chit chat, he spoke of his Uncle being in town and who was working on a documentary. He asked me if I wanted to do something constructive, since the academic year was in stasis, and introduced me to the said Uncle, who hired me for the documentary.

The uncle turned out to be Ismail Merchant, and he was producing a documentary for their regular music director, Richard Robbins. All of them were multiple Oscar winners at that time.

Richard had been visiting India over the decades and had been fascinated by the number of people who played music, in one form or the other, and the variety of rhythmic sounds that could be heard on the streets. From snake charmers with beens, harmonium players on Chowpatty, children with castanets on trains, the professional self-whipping tribe, the mattress cotton pluckers with their single string apparatus, the list was endless.

He wished to explore this as a film, consolidating all the sounds in one film, and it was called “The Street Musicians of Bombay”.

My job was to wander the streets of Bombay, armed with a Polaroid camera and a Sony stereo recording Walkman, and photograph and record the musical people whom I chanced upon. I would take some form of address or contact point from them, and return to the Merchant Ivory office, where Richard would sift through the material. The people he approved had to be fetched to the office for auditions and conversations.

During the actual filming, I was a general dogs-body, helping with anything and everything. On the very first day I saw my first Cinematographer at work, and was fascinated by what he was doing. The light meter and the lights and skimmers, the dolly (which I eventually bought in 2014, a classic Elemack Cricket Dolly, it lies on my balcony in Bombay!), and above all, his personal world inside the viewfinder of his camera, which was exclusively his, until the film stock was processed.

The Cinematographer was Jehangir Chowdhury, still a very close friend and an amazing human being.

After this I volunteered on and off on various other projects they filmed in Bombay. Eventually, my application to FTII Pune for the Cinematography course was rejected (I was a literature graduate and therefore disqualified!).

Not a single Bombay cinematographer agreed to take me on as an assistant/apprentice. I ended up at the MCRC Jamia Millia, finished my MA in Mass Communication, worked briefly in Delhi and was back in Bombay at the first opportunity I got. I continued to be rejected as an assistant/apprentice, the TV boom happened and I became a TV cameraman.

This was 1991.

Till 2000 I continued in TV, I did all kinds of work, news, documentary, game shows, chat shows, fiction, music videos – I think I clocked in around 2000 hours of TV! I worked with Doordarshan, Star, Zee, MTV, Channel V, BBC, Nat Geo, Sahara, etc. etc. etc. Some of my well known shows of this era were Nikki Tonight, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal and I concluded my TV career with the first season of KBC, as Lighting Designer and Director of Photography.

Not bad! Not bad at all.

My dear friend documentary film maker Umesh Aggarwal, who knew Hemant from his TV days, told me that he was always an absolute charmer – that must have helped. Supported with a fair amount of hard work, luck and dedication to his craft – no doubt.

It was just a matter of time before he would be caught into the lure of the big-screen – and that happened, eventually.

“I WANTED SOMETHING NEW AND CHALLENGING EACH TIME”

In 2000, I was introduced to Ramgopal Varma.

After a series of coincidences, he offered me to be the Director of Photography for his upcoming movie, Company.

This proved to be an extraordinary experience, and I can say this confidently, for me and Ramgopal Varma. It was one of the most satisfying and fulfilling professional relationships of my career. It shows in the film as well, for all concerned.

I then did two movies with Vishal Bharadwaj, one with Aparna Sen, one with Naseeruddin Shah, and nine more, including films like Kurbaan, Ishaqzaade, Dekh Tamasha Dekh, Brothers, and even an animation movie called “Arjun the Warrior Prince”…

I believe I could have done at least three times the number of movies I eventually did; I did 14, but i was so choosy with my work that a large number of people probably stopped even bothering to ask me.

If I did not like the script, it was an immediate refusal.

The cinema world, (and other worlds, I am sure), has this curious habit of appreciating your latest work, and then trying to make you do identical work for their project. A large number of professionals milk this situation for all it is worth, and end up with repetitive work and huge filmographies and giant bank balances!

People have different priorities and responsibilities. I had the simplest-I wanted something new and challenging each time. I never worked for money, nor under any kind of pressure. Even within the small filmography of my career, there may be one or two mistakes, but I still put my best into them visually.

Working in mainstream cinema has its own issues and complications and makes strange bedfellows.

For a person such as myself, who never takes sides and remains loyal to the project more than to any person, it became increasingly difficult to find work in an atmosphere of mutual respect without agendas.

One is always viewed based on the experiences of the other person, and their own insecurities make them treat you as another lowest common denominator, which I still find unacceptable.

Nevertheless, I had a tremendous amount of fun working on these 14 feature films and, I believe, close to 700 TV commercials.

Then, he walked away; all in the spur of a moment.

Happens; although, mostly, these splinters smolder over a period of time before they explode; eventually, one day it tips over – and you decide to stop reacting and start acting.

Most can’t sustain this urge – understandably so, since they persuade themselves to get over what they think is their mid-life crisis. Other’s take it up as their mid-life right to freedom, and before they know it, start blaming others for the decisions they didn’t take.

Only the very few, the real obstinate ones, develop something personally satisfying out of this sense of overwhelming ennui .

“ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS ARE INCOMPLETE WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE”

In 2015, shortly after the release of my final feature film, I awakened one morning and was overcome with the desire to move on and do something else with the remaining years of my life.

This movie, Brothers, was also my umpteenth flop movie, and odd as it may sound, people related to flop movies tend to be sidelined and avoided. It doesn’t matter how good your work might be, people like to be associated with success and not with failure. I suddenly felt that I would, yet again, have to wait several months, if not years, to be ever offered another movie, and I felt that all this waiting was beyond my levels of tolerance.

And with the Bombay movie industry being one of the greatest loss making businesses in India, (it has an approximately 2% success rate) – I just felt it was time to move on.

All artistic expression is incomplete without an audience.

It is a cycle that is necessary for the emotional existence of any work that comes from passion and intellect and hard work. The prospect of working on yet another project, spending another year battling the feudal system and the eternal nonsense that masquerades as film production, and eventually producing a still-born baby, seemed to be well beyond my capacity at that time. So, I quit.

I can relate to that; been there. Can’t really say done that.

Hemant took his life to a direction that many of us want to take when we reach middle age, but can’t. He decided to do only the things that he really wanted to do, and that too alone, with whatever savings and resources he had.

Hemant Chaturvedi working still from Brothers — *Karan Malhotra’s* *Brothers was the last mainstream film in which Hemant worked* …

Over the years, stuck into the grind of a relentless mainstream film industry – he must have pondered about many other things that he also wanted to do. He decided now was the best of all times to do all of that, and more. In various interactions with me, his usual sign-off line has been, ‘So much to do, such little time!!’

And as far as his current relationship status with the industry is concerned, I think you should, for a moment, take another look at the cover image of this post at the top – which pretty much sums it up.

“I ONLY WORK ON MY OWN PROJECTS”

From October 2015, I began experiencing the freedom in my mind that had been eluding me for a few years.

I began this independent journey by filming a series of interviews with a choice of elderly cinematographers, age group 65 to 90. All Bombay based and from the Bombay film industry, my peers and idols, if I were to categorize them. I managed around 16 such interviews with some amazing people, and I hope to finish the intended documentary soon. The basic idea was to explore the personal world and lives of cinematographers through their experiences in cinema; – and to bring a human angle to the lives of people who are quintessential to the movie making process, yet lost in the anonymity of movie credits.

Other than that, I returned full time to still photography.

I only work on my own projects, ideas that I come up with; I fund them myself, and I am always the whole and sole member of my crew, from researcher, driver, cleaner, interviewer, photographer, writer, publisher etc. etc.!

I have some savings, I live alone in my own apartment in Bombay, and as a recluse, I have dedicated the rest of my life to diverse projects, diverse ideas, diverse approaches and styles and myriad possibilities. All of it is either charitable, archival or human, in terms of subject matter. The idea is to leave something behind that is entirely mine, with the authorship of everything I wish to do in the briefness of time.

What has intrigued me all the more is the variety of subjects that he deals with. No, not all at once – one by one, one frame at a time, and with immaculate details.

His creative urge gets satisfied only when he absolutely gets what he wants – and that possibly can’t happen with a team tugged along.

Hemant is a meticulous lover. He likes it to linger on, and that shows in his frames.

“MY ATTEMPT TO GIVE AT LEAST SOMETHING BACK”

The subjects have been various.

I started my Dhrupad Gurukuls project in 2017 and have photographed 2 gurukuls so far, with two pending. I have been very close to Dhrupad as a musical form, and from the early 2000s onwards, I began befriending the few Dhrupad exponents, primarily from a selfish desire to access more recordings of a musical form that was published in a very limited way. One thing led to another and now they are all close friends.

My project was my attempt to give at least something back to Dhrupad, considering the wealth of joy and elevation it has afforded me since 1988.

Gundecha Brothers — Gundecha brothers, Umakant, the late Ramakant, and Akhilesh on Pakhwaj.

I did two projects for the sesquicentennial year (2019) of my alma mater, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. One was a commemorative calendar which I printed and published. 300 copies were given to the college to sell and the proceeds are to go to a fund for needy students.

The other one was an emotional roller coaster.

I tracked down 55 retired Jesuits, teachers and staff and invited them back to the college premises for their one final and everlasting portrait in a space of their choice. It was simply a wonderful experience. I had two 94 year olds, a large number of people in their 80s and the overwhelming love and enthusiasm everyone showed me and my project is something I will not forget in a hurry.

Glimpses from the St Xaviers Portrait Project

And for those of you who won’t be inclined to go through the entire lot – here’s a sample image from the portrait project.
That’s Ms. Dionne Coutinho. Ex HoD…in her favourite space.

When I met Hemant, he was in the middle of his latest project.

He later told me that he had been away from Bombay on a road trip since Dec 5. He reached Delhi on Jan 26, and been here since. His next trip was scheduled to start from March 12, for five more states – but then, you know who intervened.

I found his ongoing endeavor to be truly heart-warming.

All the more because no one thought of it.

I don’t know how many you-tube snorting millennials will relate to the passion associated with single screen theaters. Our generation surely will.

Those hallowed spaces used to be our most coveted source of entertainment – made even more enigmatic by all the middle class taboos associated with them. Nothing compares to the sense of freedom when we could finally muster up the courage to step into one of those cinema halls alone, or with friends. It’s almost like our initiation ceremony to adulthood.

The deafening sound of applause when the mega-star arrived on screen, with cameras on extreme low angle to accentuate his deification; the ringing sound of coins jingling when the actor mouthed a racy ‘dialogue’; putrid smells of tobacco and muffled orgasms of rickety fans and feisty fights over first-day first-show tickets – it’s a lost world for us, that still evokes an obscene lot of nostalgia.

And now, this world is all set to die a dusty death, without a fond farewell, or a fitting obituary; but not if Hemant has his way.

PHOTO-DOCUMENTING SINGLE SCREEN CINEMAS

The Single Screen Cinemas Project began, as is common with me, by accident.

I was in Allahabad for my umpteenth Kumbha Mela, last year, 2019, and I got cheated by a tent camp owner. I have a home in Allahabad, and had to follow the usual procedure of visiting the Kumbha from home every day, like I had always done. I had actually wanted to stay in the mela this time and experience it 24 hours a day for a week. Alas, with my plans thwarted, and feeling somewhat disappointed with the Ardh Kumbha (it had been turned into this gigantic display of noise and pomp, which goes against its very ethos), I ended up with nothing to do for ten days.

One afternoon I decided to go for a walk to the Allahabad University in the lovely winter sun, and chanced upon an old and forgotten cinema of my childhood. I had it opened the next day through our family connections, and photographed it.

I got inspired and photographed another three old single screen cinema theaters over the next five days. In my conversations with the owners, coupled with my own knowledge of the cinema exhibition business and the state it is in, I realized that there was a distinct possibility of all of these beautiful old spaces being demolished across the country within the next five years. And be replaced by the usual and dreadfully ugly glass malls and emotionless multiplexes.

I then embarked upon a mission of photo documenting the single screen cinema theaters of India, since it is a subject no one has ever touched in our country, on this elaborate scale. In 2019, I drove close to 20,000 km across 9 states and I have photographed around 370 single screen cinemas.

HEMANT CHATURVEDI — The lone projectionist, in a cinema hall at Jasdan, Gujarat

If it were not for the coronavirus issue, I would have traveled to another four states by now and photographed at least another 150 theaters. Alas. I wanted to make this a pan-India project, but with the future of travel in India being somewhat bleak, I am not sure when I will be able to resume it, nor finish it as envisioned.

Hemant Chaturvedi Gujarat Cinema Hall — *Those wooden seats still hold a lot of passion… from an abandoned single screen cinema, Gujarat*.

I would really hope that you do manage to finish the project Hemant. I am sure that this will make a lot of people, like me, happy – for whatever that’s worth.

All his passion notwithstanding, our flamboyant photographer is a bit weary about talking too much about any project till the time they are completed – for understandable reasons. But he does keep posting images in social media – look for sankidude Hemant Chaturvedi on instagram.

The more interested ones can of course go to his Wonderwall Gallery exhibits to sample some of his latest work.

“ACHCHA HUA APNI DEEWANAGI KAAM AA GAYI”

There are more than 10 projects that I wish to do in the next few years.

When I turned 50 in 2018, I went through an almost comical phase of panic. I suddenly felt that with barely 10-15 cognisant years left, I was running out of time and I just have to keep working.

Since I don’t work with any ambition of any kind, neither monetary, nor with any desire for fame or victory, it is a unique process. The sense of achievement and relief I feel when I walk out of a cinema theatre that I have been chasing for months, cannot be explained in any way.

My challenge of the day is to finish, to my satisfaction, and exactly and more than what I set out to do that morning. And since the only person who will not let me down, is me, it is a process I will never ever exchange for any other.

No, no more documentaries, no more films, no more motion pictures for me.

One frame at a time.

To sum it up, while I was travelling through Gujarat on my cinemas project, the Gujaratis I would meet found it very difficult to comprehend why someone would take so much trouble to travel alone through India, often in 45-49 degrees Celsius, sometimes drive 300 km for a solitary theatre, spend so much, without the desire to make enormous amounts of money!

“Aap kharcha kar rahe hain, kamayenge kaise?”

One wonderful cinema owner in Wadhwan, near Surendranagar, kind of summed it up. He recited a shair to me which he felt was very pertinent to my personality.

“Achcha hua apni deewanagi kaam aa gayi

Achcha hua apni deewanagi kaam aa gayi,

Varna kahaan kahaan phirte,

Zamane ko samjhane?”

I really don’t know what to say to that.

But yes, I can always hope, that all this ‘deewangi’ of yours rubs a bit off me as well, so that I can also start ticking stuff off my bucket list. It’s not an extensive list, but it’s there, and it’s been waiting for too long.

With that somber thought, my happy accident ends, for now.

But I will keep stalking you, Hemant.

No, not because I want to be anything like you; that’s impossible. It’s because I want to be like me, or as close as possible, within the briefness of time.

Calender Hemant Chaturvedi — *A page from the St Xavier’s calendar project …that somehow sums it all up. Hope you agree to that.*

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19 Comments

Anonymous

Its a great read. Hemant chaturvedi is a rare gem . More than a cinematographer/ photographer , he is a great human being. With his subtle words and actions, he inspires lot of human life. Wish someone writes about that part of him too.
Thanks a lot Anirban for this.

# 30th May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Maybe you can. You seem to know him quite well. Write about that part of him, and if you want, I can put it up in my blog.
  
  # 30th May 2020 Reply
Anonymous

Very nicely written!

# 30th May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Thanks a lot for reading.
  
  # 30th May 2020 Reply
anonymous

A brilliant piece about a brilliant man. His stories from each of his travels has the full potential to become a best seller! Pls do another one on that… a wonderful man with a heart of gold. Truly a rare gem living in the wrong age!

# 30th May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Thanks…but why is everyone anonymous this day? Too much of lock-down, I suppose.
  
  # 30th May 2020 Reply
Harsh Chhaya.

Came across this on his FB but you are the one who has written it so you should know for yourself- Very well put. Brings out Hemant as he is ,nothing less nothing more . Happy to have read this.

# 31st May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  It feels nice when people like and tell me the same. Like Hemant said, all creative expressions pine for appreciation. Many thanks.
  
  # 31st May 2020 Reply
Mayuri Upadhya

Very well written article. Hemant is brilliant at what he does. Wishing you both luck to follow your dreams.

# 31st May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Thanks a lot Mayuri for your good wishes. Please keep reading my blog whenever you have time.
  
  # 31st May 2020 Reply
Jangoo Mistry

Well written and well illustrated. Hemant is a brilliant gem…and a friend.He is a creative photographer with a sensitive eye.
Thank you Anirban.
Stay safe Hemant and God Bless.

# 31st May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Many thanks for the response. Feels really good.
  
  # 31st May 2020 Reply
Satish Bhatia

Hemant is a great professional having passion for camera. I met him briefly during his shoot for Xavier college Callender. He accepted my request to have a brief session with Film and Television students. Topic he chose was ” Shooting with natural Light”. His passion for the camera is commendable

# 31st May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Thanks for the response.
  
  # 31st May 2020 Reply
Nishi Pulugurtha

Very well written. I like the way you bring people behind the lens to the fore. This has been very informative. I did not know much about Hemant Chaturvedi.

# 31st May 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Neither did I. That’s what I set out to do…isn’t it? Get to know more people…
  
  # 31st May 2020 Reply
Anil Mehta

it’s great that you were able to pin down this elusive maverick,
nicely said hemant,
thanks for the piece Anirban.

# 4th June 2020 Reply
- ANIRBAN B
  
  Sheer stroke of luck. Thanks for reading Anil.
  
  # 7th June 2020 Reply
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IDES OF AUTUMN : IN THE BRIEFNESS OF TIME