How late Ranjit Madhavji's Hamilton Studios aims to use the digital medium to archive its collection

A Sharply dressed young man looks to his left His dapper moustache and slick hair gleam even through the sepia tone of the old photograph For someone unfamiliar with Indiarsquos history this photograph of JRD Tata might just as well be that of a young actor in the fashion of a Clark Gable or Errol Flynn It is among the many treasures that the late Ranjit Madhavji preserved in his iconic Hamilton StudiosFaccedilade of the iconic Hamilton Studios right the interiorsMadhavjirsquos demise earlier this month brings the curtain down on an era of portrait photography that was as much a documentation of the cityrsquos life and culture Daughter Ajita Madhavji who is the current director of Hamilton Studios Pvt Ltd shares ldquoBefore turning photographer he was a textile merchant and freedom fighter His talent led him to be appointed the official photographer for the Government of Bombay Gujarat and Kathiawadrdquo He would go on to win the PSI Lifetime Achievement Award the Rahimtulla award five times among many other titlesVolunteers work on the preservation processThe pulse of a nationThe studio did not just capture people on film but a city This makes the archiving of the studiorsquos documents photographs films and material an essential task To this end they have teamed up with The British Library and Coventry University with support from the Modern Endangered Archives Programme at UCLA Library funded by Arcadia a foundation dedicated to cultural preservation and open access to digitise the materialBen KyneswoodDr Ben Kyneswood associate professor of digital heritage and culture Coventry University has been overseeing the project since 2018 His introduction to the studio goes back to his visit to Mumbai for a photography exhibition in 2017 It sparked conversations about the archival efforts In 2018 funding from the British Library was approved to document preIndependence material Work on the ground was led by Ajita and her team of assistantsAjita Madhavji at the studioOver a Zoom call from Coventry the academic reveals ldquoIt would have been very colonial of us the British Library or Coventry University to have taken control of the project The family has done a fantastic job in preserving it for so longrdquo Another reason was to educate new generations about this heritage The professor says ldquoI understand that the only way for a younger generation to truly learn their history is for them to be involved in its preservationrdquoLeft A photograph of orchestra conductor Mehli Mehta right industrialist JRD TataThe project has already documented over 21000 images that are now accessible on the British Library UKrsquos online platform ldquoWe hope to document and archive material from 1928 to 1968 The optimal deadline would be in 2026rdquo Kyneswood says All of it he shares is open source for people to enjoyA photograph featuring the wedding of Mr and Mrs NewmanSanders at Marine Lines in 1937Currently the team is busy working on the first batch of digitised material for UCLA that covers a period between 1947 to 1951 focusing on Indians who migrated to the UK under the 1948 British Nationality Act The second batch from 1963 to 1967 will capture a surge in migration There are also plans for a third batch dating from 1951 to 1963 that will be taken on following the completion of the first two projects Ajita informs us The material in the studio is not limited to photographs but includes glass and celluloid negatives test prints and invoicesAt Hamilton Studios ground floor Narottom NTC House Ballard Estate FortLog on to eapbluk for Endangered Archives British Library UK21kimages documenting the cityrsquos stories have now been digitisedBombayrsquos ownRanjit Madhavji purchased the Hamilton Studios in Ballard Estate in the Diwali of 1957 Established by the third Baronet of Bombay Ellias Victor Sassoon in 1928 the studio is housed in a building designed by George Wittet the architect of another city landmark mdash The Gateway of India It was to become the photographic destination for Bombaywallahs from the Tatas to newlyweds and personalities including Zeenat Aman Madhubala Saira Banu and Vinod Khanna ldquoHe could capture the essence of a person in a single glance and his compositions were always perfectly balancedrdquo Ajita recallsRoll rewindI had collaborated with the studios a few times especially for The Artful Pose in 2010 The studio has been a city landmark time stands still when you walk in Yoursquod occasionally find Ranjit in some part of the studio tinkering or working on a photograph He was always there for any conversation on photographyThe studio also stands out for its invaluable documents From the many different analogue cameras and lenses to the material it is a chronicle of how the city has grown and evolved over time They are also a window into the art of photography mdash its progression from an event to something deeply personal For me the greatest legacy of Ranjit Madhavji is that he did not let the history of the studio be subsumed by commerce Rahaab Allana curator and publisher Alkazi Foundation for the Arts