Karan Kapoor’s Stunning Portrayal Of The Anglo-Indian Community

Karan Kapoor & Tasveer Journal

The Kapoor family is well known for their performance in front of the camera, but today we focus on one Kapoor who found his calling behind the lens — 54-year-old Karan Kapoor. The son of legendary actor Shashi Kapoor and his British wife, Jennifer Kendal, Kapoor falls in that juxtaposition of being both British and India, or Anglo-Indian as they are called and it is this small community that he has chosen to portray through his work.

Shooting in the mid-80’s Kapoor pointed his lens at the dwindling number of Anglo-Indians who were left in India and their rich cultural heritage that dates back centuries. They lived in that strange state of suspension between two worlds — India and her colonial master, and they never felt completely welcome in either.

Kapoor’s project Anglo-Indians was first showcased in 1990 as part of a group exhibition titled An Economy of Signs at The Photographer’s Gallery, London.

Kapoor says that his interest in photography began in his mid-teens when he was residing in Kolkata. Pursuing this passion, he even worked as an apprentice under Govind Nihalani. It is no surprise that Kapoor chose a creative line of work considering his family lineage, in fact, he has even acted and worked in several Bollywood films during the 70’s and the 80’s, but photography still had his heart.

Having lived in Kolkata, Kapoor admits that his work was heavily influenced by Mary Ellen Mark who was photographing Mother Teresa and her work during that time. But it was while he was shooting the film ‘36 Chowringhee Lane,’ which had an Anglo-Indian actress, that his interest was piqued in the Anglo-Indian community.

Having personal relations with several people from the older generations of the community helped him to take his project further, and he moved forward with the aim of understanding how it must have felt for Anglo-Indians to be “stuck in the middle.” Going back almost 8-10 generations, large portions of the community have emigrated to Britain and other places, but those left behind truly reflected that sentiment of being abandoned more than anything else. But the general consensus about the minority is far different, they are known for being vivacious and jolly, always ready for a lovely party and more than willing to break into dance to the beats of loud music.

The stories that Kapoor has tried to tell through his series are those of the authentic lives of the Anglo-Indians — honest and true. He speaks about how these men and women have ridden the ups and downs of life and experienced the whole spectrum of emotions, and yet, have the strength to carry on. Speaking to us he reminisces about how he met Shabin, a poor fisherman who, regardless of his profession, wore a formal suit to his daughter’s wedding because he was a proud man. No instance better than this can capture how astutely Anglo-Indians hold on to their pride and wear their heritage like a badge of honour.

Despite having a similar ethnic mixture as his photographic subjects, Kapoor admits that he feels like he is not Anglo- Indian, and by the constitutional definition, he isn’t. The Constitution defines Anglo-Indians as “a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only.”

Yet, he has managed to capture on film a time that is slowly fading from memory, a Goa which is carefree and unburdened. Through his photography, he has attempted to document and seal a slice of life that not many are lucky to see for themselves. As for his work, Kapoor states that most of them were published for a piece he worked on for The Indian Express with Malavika Sanghvi. Through his extensive travel around India, mainly to Ooty, Banglore, Calcutta and Mumbai, Kapoor was able to build up his collection of beautiful photographs on the subject of Anglo-Indians.

He tells us that Tasveer Journal contacted him to do a story on him, requesting to showcase his work for the first time in India through a series of travelling exhibitions titled Time & Tide. Tasveer also presented a book featuring reproductions of the photographs from the show and original texts by the acclaimed writer and historian, William Dalrymple and the Felicity Kendal, who is Kapoor’s maternal aunt.

To see more of Karan Kapoor’s work, visit his website by clicking here.