The circus of life

After 27 years of industrial, advertising, corporate, travel and product photography, Pankaj Mistry says that he still doesn’t know what makes a great picture. And that he likes it that way, the fact that he doesn’t have all the answers. “I am happy that for all the awards and honours I have won, every picture after I have developed it, reveals a surprise that I had failed to notice through the lens earlier,” he says.

The “surprise element” is prominent in his work, be it the series on Kumbh called The Diluvian World, where he visited Prayag after the crowds had gone away but still managed to capture the raw energy of the Maha Kumbh. “When looking at a subject or at images to be taken, it is imperative to go beyond the surface representation and connect with the visual language... There’s a part of me that believes that if a picture does not evoke an effect on the viewer as it has on me, then it has failed,” he says.

This is what he has tried with the series called Circus, for which he travelled with the caravan from Mahim in Mumbai till they reached Mapusa in Goa. After reaching Mapusa, the assignment lasted for about five weeks. “It gave me an opportunity to look closely and get an insight into their life with all the struggle, hardship and yet the happiness they radiated,” he says.

“What you see when they perform for you, and what goes behind the curtains are two different worlds,” Pankaj adds. “The schedule they follow is punishing while the food they eat is meagre. Most of the girls are migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal and their life is indeed hell. They have a smile which would seem affixed permanently on their faces but their eyes tell a different story.”

It seemed to him that while the world was going one way, these people were trapped in a different world of their own. “The life of a vagabond with no roots, performing seven days a week without a break, the 16-hour daily regime is not something to envy. Yet it is one big extended family, people and animals together, where they share everything, be it happiness or sadness, health or sickness.”