A photojournalist bequeathed boxes of Nehru’s rare political, personal photos to a nephew who opened it 25 years later

It's the late 1940s. The construction of Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, was on in full swing. The then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had dropped in to oversee the work. Kulwant Roy—one of the early press photographers of India—captured the moment when Nehru was seated in the middle of the construction materials, engrossed in a newspaper.

Ninety such rare and significant moments of the Indian history with Nehru in focus can be revisited at a week-long exhibition opening on November 3 at Discovery of India Building, Nehru Centre, Worli. All the photographs have been taken by Roy who has extensively photographed the events leading to the country’s independence as well as many rare moments post that. “Most of these photos were taken between 1930s to early 60s. They are part of India’s visual history,” says Satish Sahney, CEO of Nehru Centre.

Some photos, however, are an interesting departure from the most common image of Nehru in a pensive mood. The first PM of India is photographed with Govind Ballabh Pant on Holi at Teen Murti Bhavan; sharing a laugh with Jacqueline Kennedy during her India visit; and in cricket gear at a practice session.

Apart from chronicling and documenting the life and times of Nehru, these photographs also bring to fore the relentless efforts of Roy, who passed away in 1984, to capture the great moments of history. The photojournalist, who was a bachelor, bequeathed boxes full of these images to Aditya Arya. Nearly 25 years later, Arya opened to box to discover a trove of rare images of pre and post-independent India. All the photographs were systematically organised and annotated, negatives carefully packed together, notes painstaking scribbled at the back of fading photographs.

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