A surefire shot in the dark

Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation’s Darkroom in Kottivakkam offers an invitation to the world of analog photography

Revathi smiles coyly from the confines of a monochrome image plunked down on an ultra wide computer screen. The image serves as a mnemomic prop for recollecting a celluloid success of the 1980s, Bharathiraja-directed Manvasanai. While the movie camera was rolling, this image had been captured from the sidelines, still photographer Lakshmikanthan pressing the shutter.

In the minutes that follow, the monitor is busy hosting other black-and-white images shot by Lakshmikanthan during the making of other movies from that day and age, displaying popular actors such as Janagaraj and Rathi Agnihotri in the flush of youth.

Drawn from negatives, these images have been through a process of digitisation. An enlarger has increased their girth. They are now being touched up, mildly corrected to weed out the effects of cankerous time placing a clammy palm across the negatives. This process is unfolding at the Darkroom of Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation in Kottivakkam.

Images of this ilk are being readied for a grand display at the Thiruvanmiyur MRTS station as part of the second phase of CPB Edition 4.

A member of the Darkroom, Ajay has the lowdown about this project. Lakshmikanthan, who lives in Director’s Colony Kodambakkam, his life enriched by memories of celluloid past plastered on 10,000 negatives, had allowed access to a part of his tranche for a day. One hundred images in negatives from ten films were paraded for scrutiny: 76 images in negatives were herded into the Darkroom, quickly digitised and returned to the owner.

In a knowledge sharing exercise, much like a student sliding an answer sheet to the edge of the table for a pal seated at the next table, Ajay offers a sneak peek into the display-to-be. Expect slices of Billa, Alaigal Oivathilai, Pudiya Varpugal and Manvasanai, he reels off and stops short of a total revelation, and goes back to being hunched over an enlarger fashioned by Darkroom team.

This project is not vastly differentiable from this team’s regular engagements. As the name implies, the Darkroom team is engaged with analog and alternative photography.