Dive into history of past five decades at this photo exhibition by veteran photojournalist

A veteran photojournalist will display his most notable works from the past five decades for the first time at a SoBo art gallery

Strike up a conversation with Mukesh Parpiani about the riot-torn Mumbai of 1993, Muhammad Ali’s famed visit to the city in 1980, or the moment Padmini Kolhapure greeted Prince Charles’ with a stolen peck on the cheek during his visit to India. The veteran photojournalist will let out a reminiscent chuckle followed by a detailed anecdote of how he captured the essence of these historic moments through his camera. Celebrating five decades of photojournalism and curating more than 250 exhibitions at the National Centre for Performing Arts’ Dilip Piramal Art Gallery as a curator, Parpiani brings a solo exhibition today at Jehangir Art Gallery; his first-ever at the venue.

Boxing champ Muhammad Ali during his visit to Mumbai in 1980

“My brother was a photography enthusiast and I would assist him in jobs like washing prints in the dark room. One day, we learnt that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was visiting our hometown, Bhavnagar. He happened to pass by our house and my brother managed to capture the moment on film. It was this moment that instantly sparked an interest for photography in me,” he shares, recalling his earliest tryst with what would eventually shape his entire life.

Parpiani went on to pursue formal training in photography in 1969, followed by a two-year course in mass communications at Xavier Institute of Communications in Mumbai to lay the foundation for his career as a photojournalist. First noticed by the late editor of The Daily, Russi Karanjia, Parpiani tells us he explored his true potential working for the publication for nearly nine years. “The publication was fairly new and there weren’t many advertisements at the time. Which meant my pictures would be splashed in full size on the pages of an edition. It was always a delight to see that,” he recalls fondly.

Mukesh Parpiani

Following a 10-year stint at The Indian Express, Parpiani turned to mid-day in 2002 to pioneer a digital revolution in photojournalism with Tariq Ansari, the erstwhile managing director. “Two and a half lakhs,” he laughs, recalling the price tag on a DSLR in the early 2000s. “We were one of the first publications to move to a digital way of working. With the introduction of Coolpix cameras, which allowed us to point and shoot as per our convenience, our jobs became more flexible than ever,” he recalls. Parpiani soon became instrumental in a number of ‘photo scoops’ including the famed rare picture of Haseena Parkar, fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister, at her son’s wedding reception.

Over two decades later, as the 72-year-old curator gears up for an exhibition of more than 100 of his memorable works, we ask him what comes next. “You never know, and that’s the beauty of it,” he answers, suggesting that the photojournalist within him may still be very much alive. “In the job, I learnt to never plan too ahead of yourself. You can never tell when the next historic moment will unfold, when a bright idea will fall flat, or when the next quick peck will be stolen. The key is to be on your toes,” 
he concludes. 

From: Today. till January 30; 11 am to 7 pm
At: Jehangir Art Gallery, Fort.

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