“Mumbai is the sweet, sweaty smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it’s the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It’s the smell of Gods, demons, empires, and civilizations in resurrection and decay. It’s the blue skin-smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the island city, and the blood-metal smell of machines…” was what Gregory David Roberts wrote in ‘Shantaram’ when he migrated to the hot and heavy cauldron of everything good and bad that the world has to offer, the city of dreams: Mumbai.

Film-maker and photographer Nirvair Singh Rai similarly found himself drawn to the streets of Mumbai eight years ago, camera in hand; following the practice he picked up while studying documentary photography in Bangladesh. “It could be a vacation or if I’m at home, I’ll try to just shoot something on an everyday basis. I came to Bombay and started doing that without anything in my mind at that moment. I just wanted to get out and explore the city meet people, get into confrontations good or ugly.” He tells us. With ‘Reclaiming Spaces’ the photographer’s solo exhibition at Method Juhu that is on display till February 11th, he takes us on a walk through his archives of the spaces of Mumbai that have been lost in the throes of industrialisation and time. “I feel this whole reclaiming space came from that understanding that nothing is permanent. When I go back and look back at the same streets – what has changed there over time? There are so many memories attached to it, it’s a walk down memory lane where you just revisit everything.” He says.

Somewhere all souls who wander to the streets of Mumbai are searching for something, holding different dreams and aspirations in their hearts. And yet both Gregory David Roberts and Nirvair Singh Rai meet at the intersection of expression as they interpret the gritty, grey urban landscapes of Mumbai along similar lines; albeit different mediums. A rather symbolic example of something Nirvair says to me as we catch up with the artist, “We all ring at a frequency in our lives, we attract people, places, things we see- they all come from our frequencies. Interconnectedness in some ways in a larger scheme of things.”

Through the lens of Nirvair, we see Bombay in its most naked avatar, in frames of lovers hidden by tetrapods and the unmissable distance between older lovers, and most importantly the looming grey sheen of the urban threat carefully drawn out across the horizon in black and white.  Nirvair dances among emotions, memories and human nature with his imagery that captures the raw essence of the city of dreams. He tells us, “With photography, with art comes a lot of empathy. You feel responsible for the group of people who are less privileged than we are. There are many ways of looking at photography- there’s a professional way and there’s something that I do for myself,” the artist’s burden of balancing both the narratives that need to be told and the ones you want to be seen for yourself.

The initial introduction to documenting in Nirvair’s life began with his father who while an engineer by profession was a lover of the art of photography; so much so that he had a dark room of his own where he would develop film at home. “that’s where I picked it up from, a very loving fatherly perspective about photography.” He added. And since there the artist has never looked back, on the road of constant development of his craft. While the photographer/filmmaker has also garnered much appreciation for his work documenting fashion it’s his control of spaces, the way he sees landscapes and areas that truly sets him apart, a trait that can be traced back to his years growing up in his hometown of Punjab. “Landscapes for me, I just go back to either Punjab or the Himachal. It’s like such an open land and you feel so small in these places because you can see the horizon, you can see the whole world around you. Visually there are no buildings, nothing obstructing your view. And like reclaiming spaces, you tend to go back to the places and the places change, the person is not there anymore. Something that you shoot after a while will always cook up into something very special. Because it has taken its course and its time and you have gone back to the place, and you can talk about it because you’re related now- you know that place or a landscape for 10 years 15 years, for a lifetime.” He tells us. Talking of the passage of time, the theme is a common element perceived in the frames of ‘Reclaiming Spaces’, a display of the death caused by urbanisation and the contrasting reclamation of its soul through art.

The artist’s ideology is hence reflected in his body of work- a harmonious display of natural aesthetics in unusual positions and yet un-orchestrated- a simple coming together of real elements that are evident in the captures.  “I feel even when you’re asked to make a movie, I will try not to give visuals or cloud my mind with so much out there. I feel if you do something that is truly yours it’ll work for you it’ll work for your audience because that is the best that you can do. You own the space; you own the conversations that you’re having and you kind of create this whole world in that place.” He adds. The synergy of the subject and the story it’s telling is what Nirvair puts his faith in, allowing the images to be the most unadulterated versions of themselves. “I feel if you’ve had a good time there’s going to be something in your film or images. There’ll be some life rather than just posing, so I think you just have to connect with the person to get the things out when it comes to the commercial photography films- and that also kind of binds me to where I come from, from a very documentary lens nature lens. It all kind of flows into each other very well.” He adds talking about the visual process that has led to some of his most striking collaborations with the likes of Sabyasachi, Rahul Mishra, Falguni & Shane Peacock and Tarun Tahliani to name a few.

Talking about what’s next for the dynamic photographer and filmmaker is an upcoming Netflix documentary on the effervescent Yo Yo Honey Singh, directed by Mozez Singh with Nirvair as the DOP. While the artist continues to capture and narrate stories one by one, collecting a fair share of laurels in the process. He believes in reaching the masses while setting a larger stage for storytelling. “I want to make a Bollywood film much later in my life. I believe in reaching out to the masses. I keep questioning, why are you in Bombay? It took me some time to realize that Bollywood is the gate to the masses and that’s in Bombay. You want to say something out loud, you have something to share with India, with all of us. Come to Bollywood, share your story over here.” He tells us. One can only wait and watch for the future stories Nirvair Singh Rai weaves through his vision. But in the moment, we take a step back in time rather than forward, and visit archival Mumbai and its unheard stories with ‘Reclaiming Spaces’.

Hero and Feature images: Courtesy Nirvair Singh Rai