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Journalism of Courage
For more than 20 years, Hindustani and dance concert regulars in Delhi have seen a tiny, unobtrusive woman scuttling about with a 35mm. Big, burly press photographers tread carefully around her for fear of inadvertently squashing her underfoot. But even the newest country boy toting a camera like an Uzi instinctively steps aside to the amusement of the audience: it8217;s a regular sideshow and the public wants to see how Shobha Deepak Singh will manage her shots this time.
The result, about 40 culled photographs, were up in Ebrahim Alkazi8217;s gallery Art Heritage in the Triveni basement, priced between Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000. Alkazi has displayed her work earlier in Delhi in 1996. 8220;He throws me out of the gallery when he8217;s choosing pictures8221; grumbles Singh. 8220;He says I won8217;t make an objective judgment because I8217;m too attached to all my pictures8221;. But the Elk, as generations of students at the National School of Drama called him, is not only famous for his short fuse but is Singh8217;s old teacher, since she was a student in his Direction Course of Living Theatre in 1992.
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8220;I can8217;t seem to remember this show: but all the gays in Delhi loved this picture, since two men are in a clinch.8221; 8220;Kelucharan Mahapatra is bewildering to shoot. One mood chases another so fast! This is an unusual shot, lovely face he8217;s making.8221; |
8220;See how young and anxious Shubha Mudgal looks, sitting behind Kumar Gandharva? That was a long time ago, of course.8221; |
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As the director and vice-chairperson of Delhi8217;s doughty Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra which also owns and operates the prestigious Kamani Auditorium, Singh supervises a teaching wing 500 students in the College of Classical Music and Dance and a ballet wing that maintains a permanent dance-drama troupe.
Singh joined Bharatiya Kala Kendra in 1968 and served as the first manager of Kamani Auditorium. She8217;s added new skills systematically: designing costumes and ornaments, lighting and set design, scripting and directing Kendra ballets, a BA in Performing Arts and showcasing stumbling traditions back then that are hip now, like Mayurbhanj Chhau.
But while everything else is backroom work, despite a Padma Shri in 1999 for her contribution to the performing arts, photography, for Singh, is signed work: entirely her skill out on toast with no one to share praise or blame.
8220;I never use a flash. I like to track a live performance like cat-and-mouse. When that one moment happens, I jump reflexively,8221; says Singh. 8220;I never want to slow down!8221;
