The Mahatta Photo Studio in Srinagar has become as iconic as its photographs.
Srinagar:
The man who introduced the modern world to Kashmir through black-and-white photography and made it famous as 'paradise on Earth', Jagdish Mehta, died at 72 in Srinagar on Thursday.
Admirers believe many would have perhaps missed the paradise had it not been for Mr Mehta who shot Kashmir with much love and artistic precision.
Mahattas archives, the photo collection of the Mahatta Photo Studio in Srinagar, is a treasure trove of iconic shots.
The studio was started by self-taught photographers Amarnath Mehta and his younger brother Ram Chander Mehta who came to Kashmir from Rawalpindi in 1918. In the twenties, it was renamed in to make it more "pronounceable" from the erstwhile 'Mehta and Co.'.
For the last 90 years, the studio has kept up its old colonial facade on The Bund, a Jhelum River embankment in Srinagar, where the studio has become as iconic as its photographs.
Jagdish Mehta, Amarnath's grandson and a passionate photographer who ran the Mahatta Studio was proud that he managed to keep the shop open, through Kashmir's most violent years.
As a tribute to Jagdish Mehta the studio will soon become a photography museum.
"The history of photography is also in this studio. A lot of Kashmir is also housed in this studio, from my grandfather's generation, to my father. The working people of Kashmir, the nature of Kashmir, in fact even the politics of Kashmir are well documented. From the King, to the turmoil as it started in the 40s that also has been captured," said Dushant Mehta, son of Jagdish Mehta.
Mr Mehta and his family are also converting the dark room into an art gallery and the ground floor and top floors into cafes.
"The idea to open a cafe also came from Jagdish Mehta. We want this to make this a centre for intellectual discourse where people can come and exchange their ideas and also have beverages and Kashmiri Kehwa," Roohi Nazki, who runs the cafe, said.
This studio floor though will stay as it has for almost a century now as the Mahatta's Studio.
Admirers believe many would have perhaps missed the paradise had it not been for Mr Mehta who shot Kashmir with much love and artistic precision.
Mahattas archives, the photo collection of the Mahatta Photo Studio in Srinagar, is a treasure trove of iconic shots.
The studio was started by self-taught photographers Amarnath Mehta and his younger brother Ram Chander Mehta who came to Kashmir from Rawalpindi in 1918. In the twenties, it was renamed in to make it more "pronounceable" from the erstwhile 'Mehta and Co.'.
For the last 90 years, the studio has kept up its old colonial facade on The Bund, a Jhelum River embankment in Srinagar, where the studio has become as iconic as its photographs.
Jagdish Mehta, Amarnath's grandson and a passionate photographer who ran the Mahatta Studio was proud that he managed to keep the shop open, through Kashmir's most violent years.
As a tribute to Jagdish Mehta the studio will soon become a photography museum.
"The history of photography is also in this studio. A lot of Kashmir is also housed in this studio, from my grandfather's generation, to my father. The working people of Kashmir, the nature of Kashmir, in fact even the politics of Kashmir are well documented. From the King, to the turmoil as it started in the 40s that also has been captured," said Dushant Mehta, son of Jagdish Mehta.
Mr Mehta and his family are also converting the dark room into an art gallery and the ground floor and top floors into cafes.
"The idea to open a cafe also came from Jagdish Mehta. We want this to make this a centre for intellectual discourse where people can come and exchange their ideas and also have beverages and Kashmiri Kehwa," Roohi Nazki, who runs the cafe, said.
This studio floor though will stay as it has for almost a century now as the Mahatta's Studio.
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