Sooni Taraporevala's book of photographs takes you to black and white Mumbai

The searing afternoon heat notwithstanding we are tempted to stand in the balcony of Sooni Taraporevalas Grant Road home to observe a fast altering city Her humble abode however refuses to keep up The warm air that floats from the whirring fan above us and the mosaic floor bursting with the earthiness of ochre and red are remnants of a past stubborn against the changes of weather or time The malls and towers of modern Mumbai dont interest me visually says Taraporevala as if to drive the point homeNaseeruddin Shah and Stellan Skarsgard on the set of The Perfect Murder Bombay 1987 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaWe are sitting inside a spartan but charming room that boasts a little of her fine artistry The only semblance of her oeuvre are the pictures of the cast of Little Zizou 2008 her directorial debut pinned on a white board Otherwise its photographs by Henri CartierBresson and dear friend Ketaki Sheth that take up wall spaceThe boy and the bay Mumbai 2015 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaOver the last few weeks Taraporevala has been working at hectic pace to close her second photography book to release in 17 years The first Parsis The Zoroastrians of India 2000 documented stories of a community she belongs to and understands best The latest title Home In The City Bombay 1977 ndash Mumbai 2017 HarperCollins India which will be launched alongside a photo exhibition at Chemould Prescott Road from October 14 to 31 will take us through Taraporevalas city via 99 black and white photographsCamel on Marine Drive Bombay 1977 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaThe collection curated by writer Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi spans 40 years and offers the viewer a varied hue From Taraporevalas inner worlds which include private moments with family and friends to the burgeoning street life the famed New Years Ball and behindthefilm set scenes that the screenwriter has been associated with the book shows both her skill with the camera and undying obsession with Bombay With novelists Pico Iyer and Salman Rushdie offering us a window to her pictures with their essays Home In The City brings together a prized company one youd like to relish at your own paceSarfu and Irrfan Khan at the Salaam Bombay workshop Bombay 1987 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaTaraporevala however is quick to mention that the book isnt intended at documenting the transformation of the cityI dont want to create expectations about offering a visual documentation of the city she says adding Its just a quirky and personal view of all the various worlds that I have inhabited and photographed through the yearsIf you look at the pictures and the captions you wont be able to say which were taken then and which are taken now My style remains the same and what interests me also remains the same Objectively of course Mumbai has changed Its uglier now and a lot more crowded One real difference you can tell is on the streets In all the old pictures there was little traffic You would see an odd Fiat or Ambassador And of course we have the buildings We are now surrounded on all sides by these towers I hate it I think greed is ruining this city she addsSelva and Ramesh Bombay 1987 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaHaving said that Taraporevala believes there is plenty still to romance with the city through her lens Photography is very subjective because you are putting a frame around reality And so you can block out what you dont want to seeIts this fascination for visual tricks that first drew Taraporevala to the camera My dad is a keen amateur photographer and my granduncle was a studio photographer So I grew up seeing a lot of black and white photographs she recallsWhen I was 16 I went to Hong Kong for a holiday and my aunt and uncle who very kindly gifted me the trip also gave me my first camera an Instamatic I took it to Harvard University in 1975 and after a few months of photographing all the autumn colours and snow blizzard I felt I wanted a camera that would do more So I borrowed money from my roommate and bought my first real camera a Nikkormat she addsThe Gateway of India from the Taj Mahal Hotel Bombay 1977 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaAfter wrapping up a few photography courses abroad and learning the ropes of developing and printing from fellow student Steve Geovannis who used to be a stringer for the Boston Globe when Taraporevala finally returned to the home of her childhood she decided to put her photography to practiceBefore her tryst with screenwriting for Mira Nairs awardwinning Salaam Bombay 1988 Taraporevala was into travel photography for magazines and newspapers But as a profession it took a backseat to screenwriting because that is what I did most and that is what allowed me to buy all the expensive camera equipment she saysGajanan Maharaj Bombay 1987 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaHer affair however continued She moved to digital in 2004 I was so enamored by it that I never looked back at my film camera she says Until recently when I found myself missing it film Most of her recent works featured in the book have been shot on a Leica digital Around five years ago she chanced upon Instagram and she still cant stop gushing about it I was an early convert she says of the photosharing website where she has uploaded over 3000 pictures Its like a visual diaryWhenever I take a picture on my iPhone I upload it so that I can look back at it and remember what I was doing then she saysNurse and poster of Indira Gandhi at the Congress Centenary Session Bombay 1985 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaSometime last year when her writer friend Shanghvi who also shares her love for photography saw her iPhone pictures he tried pushing her to do an exhibition around them We were discussing a lot of ideas she says But the genesis of the book says Taraporevala owes much to Devika DauletSingh founder of New Delhi gallery PHOTOINK Siddharth brought Devika in and she suggested I focus on the city and not limit myself just to phone photos As I went back to my archives I realised the frames were overwhelmingly black and white And thats how the idea of this show developedWith Dipti and Dattaraj Salgaocar of Sunaparanta producing the upcoming show Taraporevala says her work got the muchneeded impetusRocking and rolling at the New Years Eve Ball Bombay 1985 Images copyright copy Sooni Taraporevala Images courtesy SunaparantaAnd Mumbai being the heartland of her inspiration for everything from writing to films this one came easily she says I love this city I will never tire of it I am always completely inspired by it And even though the city is imploding I wouldnt live anywhere else Its Mumbai meri jaan for sureNothing however describes Taraporewalas fascination with the city as well as Iyers sharp observations of her photographs in the end what really touches me is her reminder of the impression Ive often carried back from trips to Bombay The crowds the public world the shared dreams are all part of a sometimes devouring disorder that shows no signs of subsiding but in the eyes and lives of individuals is a dignity a resilience and a sweetness that nothing can erase he writes in the book