From longing by Prabuddha Dasgupta

You were working as a copywriter before you took up photography…

I was working as a copywriter because I did not know what else I could do. I trained as a historian, but five years at university destroyed my love for history. So I was a bum, and then I was a copywiter and now I’m a photographer. But I am deeply grateful to my years in advertising since that’s where I first realised that I could actually make a living making photos.

Do you feel the lack of formal training?

I read somewhere that anything that can be taught is probably not worth learning…. No, I do not miss formal training. Probably what I miss is being part of a fraternity of like-minded people, all fired up and raring to go. Other than that, I’m not sure… institutions also tend to dry things up a bit. Too much intellect and too little spirit. Susan Sontag said in Against Interpretation that art, once upon a time, used to be pure and innocent and had no need to justify itself… no one asked what it ‘said’ because one knew what it ‘did’. Well, not anymore.

A bulk of your work is in black and white…

Black and white is a language just like any other, and it is a language that I honed my skill in… I understand its nuances and am able to express myself comfortably through it. Also, I like that black and white is one step abstracted from reality and allows one to zero in on the essence of the subject, minus its surface distractions.

You have done a variety of work — fashion to Ladakh landscapes. What subject do you enjoy most?

If I look back at the last 15 years, all the work I’ve been doing in advertising and fashion has had a counterpoint, something I’ve been able to immerse myself in personally and artistically, which reminds me of the real reason that I took up photography. I am extremely grateful for my commissioned work, for that alone allows me the financial and artistic freedom to disappear for months together to follow subjects of my own choosing, that have deeper resonance for me.

Somewhere between the opposites that the two arenas represent, I find my balance. I remember during my work in Ladakh, people would find it bizarre that I could come in from a remote monastery high up in the Changthang desert and go to work within the confines of a multi-star hotel, shooting a neurotic supermodel surrounded by a mob of frenzied fashion people. But that’s the kind of contradiction I thrive on.

You tell stories through people….

Without people there are no stories… I like to photograph people, interesting people, not boring people. That’s why I don’t do corporate portraiture… or Bollywood. Some people are so much up their own bums that it’s impossible to interrupt my yawns long enough to take a picture.

And then there are exciting people and they could be from anywhere. I’m more attracted to people who are on the margins, more subversive, less in boxes. And, of course, given a choice I would only photograph women… They are just so much more interesting than men.

What do you seek to express?

I try not to think about that too much. My approach is more spontaneous and intuitive. Too much thinking I believe can make your work appear a bit constipated. I just go in there with my mind empty as can be and allow myself to respond from the gut.

He describes himself as “a bum, then a copywriter and now a photographer”. From shooting Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre in the nude for a shoe ad to capturing lovemaking on camera, Prabuddha Dasgupta has always pushed the envelope. But he has also trained his lens on simple moments that tell stories. In his latest book Edge of Faith, pictures from which were recently exhibited at the Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, he captures the fast-fading colonial charm of Goa. Calcutta also got a glimpse of his work at The Chivas Studio, and though the photographer couldn’t make it to the city, he answered some questions from t2, his words as candid as his frames

Is it difficult to do commissioned work after you have enjoyed the independence of doing your own thing?

No, I don’t find commissioned work restrictive. You have to work within certain parameters but I believe that I am being hired to bring my sensibility to a job. Also I don’t have any highbrow pretensions of being some fabulous artist. I’m a photographer…. whatever you put in front of me, I’ll put my sensibility out there and deal with it.

Which is the best ad you have seen recently?

None… Most of what I see in advertising today is mediocre bullshit, dictated by some statistics-driven, research-oriented, boring, management types. Which is why everything today looks the same. You could move the logo from one ad and put it on another and nobody would notice.

What about the art scene in general — are nudes and bold expressions better accepted now?

I think concurrent with the new liberalisation is a parallel, fundamentalist movement gaining momentum, whose primary objective is to not allow the status quo to change. Their ideology has nothing to do with morality as they would like us to believe, but political gain, and although they are a petty minority, they seem to have the clout to strangle freedom of expression and speech through the propagation of terror and brute force. But to my mind what is worse than their acts is the complacent, submissive attitude of the public. Art cannot be dictated to conform to norms, and the death of art is the death of culture as we know it.

How do you make lovemaking look sensuous, real rather than provocative?

Sexuality, just like so many other human energies, is a vital force and to ignore it in art is to ignore something essential in the human condition. Unfortunately today sexuality has been commodified and glamourised to serve the dictates of the market. Being sexual is likened to having that perfect body that looms over you from billboards and to attain that perfect body, of course, there are products you must buy. My attempt is to take away that false, cosmetic glamour and show it for what it is supposed to be… a raw, vital, positive, powerful thing between people.

What has been your most satisfying work till date?

I guess it would have to be my last project in Goa. But satisfaction doesn’t usually last too long, and already when I look at the work now I think I should have done some of it differently. That’s the exciting thing about what I do! Never satisfied!

You’ve had a long work relationship with Lakshmi Menon. What makes her your muse?

I have an eight-year relationship with Lakshmi and despite my low boredom threshold, I am still as excited about photographing her as I was when I first met her. When something like that happens, you don’t question or analyse it. I’m not one for demystifying a relationship, since most of what makes it special is inexplicable, and belongs more in the realm of mystery than it does in reason. All I can say is that as a photographer I feel blessed that I am able to have a subject like Lakshmi to photograph on a long-term basis, and I can’t explain why I don’t tire of her… If she was only a very beautiful woman, that would never have been enough. I have known many, and tired of them sometimes after a single session, and sometimes after a few. But with her, I can just go on and on and each time be blessed with the discovery of something exciting, alluring and new. This to me can only be attributed to a quality that remains an enigma, something special in her physical, psychological, emotional disposition, something that every artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer is always looking for in a muse.

A photograph by Dasgupta displayed at The Chivas Studio

There is a tactile quality to your photographs…

I guess it’s in the blood, my father being a sculptor. I remember growing up surrounded by these bronze pieces, writhing torsos, voluptuous female forms, always asking to be touched. Maybe that got sublimated in my image-making endeavours. Even today, when I visit a sculpture exhibition, if I can’t touch, I’m out of there. I try to show my work without the glass encasing (which to my mind makes them look like palaeontological specimens rather than photographs) so that the surface of the photo begs to be touched. So that sensuality is very much part of my sensibility and I see it in everything that I do.

Are your pictures arranged or captured in a moment?

I never do carefully arrange everything before taking a picture even if it may sometimes appear so. I go into a situation without too much pre-visualisation and extract what I can, given the combination of light, atmosphere, subject, energy…. It’s like a little dance with the subject... you’re trying to match steps, feeling your way around and then suddenly it’s perfect... and you feel that shiver up your spine… and you hit the shutter and you've got it. It’s over.

Poulomi Banerjee