Tracing the footsteps of a hero

HUBBALLI: A Dharwad-based photographer has been following the footsteps of some of the people who have inspired him, and re-creating their lives in his own personal way to remind others that there are battles worth fighting for. Meet photographer Harshad Uday Kamath, who hails from Kumta in Uttara Kannada, and recently put together a series of photographs that re-create the life of Chandrashekar Azad, who fought for independence from the British.

Harshad’s photographs are unique because he researched the Madhya Pradesh-born freedom fighter’s life and then captured Azad’s personality and his activities in a series of striking black and white photographs: there is Azad the university scholar holding a book in a library; Azad the wrestler exercising with a traditional dumbbell; and Azad the revolutionary locked in a gun battle with the British at Alfred, now known as Azad Park; and one of Azad twirling his iconic moustache.

“I have been working on theme-based photo shoots for some time now,” says Harshad, who has already done similar projects on the lives of other freedom fighters such as Sangolli Rayanna and Subhash Chandra Bose. Just as with previous photo shoots, Harshad researched Azad’s life. He read whatever he could find on the man. One particularly useful resource was a book on Azad authored by Babu Krishnamurthy. “It was a great help in understanding the freedom fighter better.

Azad was a sports person and a scholar as well. So there were a lot of possibilities on creating pictures of him since he was young,” Harshad says. Once he found his hero, Harshad needed a place where he could re-create the various aspects of his personality and his life, and Karnatak College in Dharwad was just the spot. “When I explained my ideas regarding the photo shoot, college authori t ies readi ly agreed,” he says. Harshad also needed a model who could represent the freedom fighter.

He found the perfect model in 31-year-old business owner and social worker Shashi Hiremath. “It was really important to find the right model for the role. In the case of Azad, we found Shashi, who had a good build and was wellsuited to play Azad,” Harshad said, and joked, “But he had to lose his beard to play the part.” Armed with a good model and a suitable location, he shot the pictures using both natural and artificial lighting. On the day of the shoot, Harshad and his team went around the campus, including the library, to take pictures.

What emerges is a portrait of Azad as a wrestlerathlete, an avid reader absorbed in a book, the student walking across his college campus, and the revolutionary who eventually shot himself on February 27, 1931, rather than allow himself to be captured by the British. “The majority of photos are about the last few hours of Azad’s death,” Harshad says. For Shashi, it was an overwhelming experience to model as Chandrashekar Azad. “It is an honour.

When Harshad came up with the idea, I readily agreed. It was well-received and several people congratulated me. A lot of people, my friends and even people I did not know, asked what I did for my physique and other things I did to prepare for the role,” Shashi says. Shashi believes that Harshad’s theme-based photo projects have the potential to teach younger generations about the sacrifices made by freedom fighters.