The other day he called me all the way from Hamburg (his hometown in Germany) to Mumbai, my hometown in India, traversing a distance of 6,536 km as the crow flies. It was raining the usual mad Mumbai rain outside with rimzim amplified on rooftops…

His voice: baritone velvety. His diction: clear. His intonation: flawless. His adab: elegant. His memory: photographic. His sense of humor: non-German, with a tinge of khumaar (hangover) of the glorious life lived and living.

The man, who was so kind to call me from Hamburg, was- 90 minus 3 – Jaywant (Jay) Ullal, the name that I was familiar with, but this was our maiden direct sonic samvaad (dialogue). He spoke for over one hour, unspooling his memories of Mangalore, Mumbai, and Movies. At the end of the conversation, I told him that he sounded like a twenty-year-young boy. I could hear his vibrant smile. And –

And indeed, he was twenty when he joined as an apprentice to the cinematographer M. (Madhusudan) W. Mukadam. Somewhere during our conversation, he uttered the sentence: “Leika changed my life.” In the 1950s, Leica was one of the last screw-mount German cameras.

That was his first love and as if he was paraphrasing the Hindi song from the 1956 film C.I.D. Leke (Leica) pehla pehla pyaar, bhar ke aankhon mein khumaar, jaadu nagari se aaya hai koi jaadugar… (Bringing first love, eyes filled with hangover, a magician has come from a city of magic…) By the time C.I.D. entered, the young lensman Jay Ullal left the field of motion picture photography and plunged whole hog into the profession of still photography. But the initial year (between the films Daaera, 1953; Mehmaan, 1953; and Vachan, 1954) he spent learning motion picture photography under the tutelage of the ace cinematographer M.W. Mukadam and would evoke many historical memories. In this conversation, I would, with the generous help of Ullal, try to put them on the loom of history weaving wart and woof into some fascinating fabric to share with you all Samyak Drishti (the seers/witnesses/readers).

Jay Ullal’s training at the Motion Picture Arts Academy, Mumbai

Before joining M.W. Mukadam, young Jay Ullal had already trained himself for motion picture photography in the Motion Picture Arts Academy founded by the well-known producer-director Abdul Rashid (A.R.) Kardar in Mumbai – situated at Khira Nagar, Santacruz West. On board of this institute were such stalwarts as the sarod-player Ali Akbar Khan and the film director Chetan Anand, whose film Neecha Nagar (1946) had already shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (Best Film) award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946; it is the only Indian film to have won a Palm d’Or (Golden Palm). And that was just one year prior to India becoming an independent nation on 15 August 1947. The 14-year-old Jay Ullal saw the Indian Tricolour replacing the Union Jack; free India’s ‘tryst with destiny’ was on move.

Bombay’s Motion Picture Arts Academy offered practical courses in direction, editing, etc., but Ullal chose cinematography and got a diploma for it. He also received a certificate of appreciation from M.W. Mukadam for his excellent work.

Since I was curious to know about the existence of training and pedagogy in the art and craft of filmmaking prior to the establishment of Poona / Pune’s Film Institute of India (later Film & Television Institute of India 1960, I requested Ullal to throw some more light on Bombay’s Motion Picture Arts Academy where he studied and why did he leave the field so very soon later.
He recalls –

Jay: When I came to Bombay in search of a photography school, I found none in those days. I had no other choice but to join the Motion Picture Arts Academy. In fact, I was not interested in becoming a cinematographer. My original dream was to be a photographer.

Amrit: How was the training imparted at this Academy?

Jay: It was very good. I learnt a lot of camera work there. At a monthly fee of Rs. 300, it was rather expensive. But fortunately, with the help of Ali Akbar Khan sahab, I got scholarship and could afford to join the Academy and pursue my training by paying regular fees.

Amrit: How about your batchmates? Do you remember?

Jay: In cinematography class, there were eight trainees in my batch, including one white South African and another, a boy from Kerala, a Malayalee.

Amrit: Besides cinematography, what other courses did the Academy offer?

Jay: Acting, Directing, Sound Recording, Lighting, among few others; all that Bollywood then needed for upgrading itself technically. (This was actually the general mandate of the FTII too, when it was established – AG)

Amrit: Any other memories of those days do you recall?

Jay: I became friendly with a rich Mysorean named K.K. Narayan, a student in Direction class. His mother had bought a big luxury flat in Matunga West (Matunga Road railway station on Mumbai’s western railways, between Mahim and Dadar). Later, I stayed with him, where Sardar Malik was also staying. Sardar Malik, the well-known music composer, who is still remembered
for his film Aulad. He and I became friendly, remaining so almost for a decade.

Note: The 1954 Hindi film Aulad was shot by the cinematographer Ranjodh Thakur; starring Balraj Sahni, Usha Kiran, and Nirupa Roy, it was directed by Mohan Segal. Some of you might remember the Aulad song Duniya tasveer hai rote huye insaanon ki sung by Talat Mahmood and composed by Sardar Malik, whose son Anu Malik is one of the leading Bollywood music composers now. Sardar Malik (1925-2006) is also known for his 1953 film Thokar as also Saranga (1961) whose song Saranga teri yaad mein sung by Mukesh is still hummed by many across India.– AG

Amrit: Those were very thrilling times for Jay Ullal, as he says. But how about his experiences of being an apprentice under the cinematographer M.W. Mukadam, I ask him, picking his brains.

Jay: I was lucky to join M.W. Mukadam after my training at the Motion Picture Arts Academy. During those days, Mukadam had already had three films in hand, they were: Daaera, Mehmaan and Vachan. Though I did not continue till the completion of all the films, Mukadam trusted me completely. For example, he would ask me to light up a huge sky inside the studio, load film rolls for the camera, do the critical manual focusing during crane or trolley shots measuring five to ten meters in distance to capture close-ups, it was a very responsible job. Mukadam always took the crane shots himself, asking me to sit beside him to pull focus, which I did quite efficiently. Even the director Kamal Amrohi would often pat my back, saying, “Good job done, young boy!” I never went out of focus and he appreciated that. You know the film Daaera had some difficult camera movements.

And then, while working with the cinematographer M.W. Mukadam and shooting in Bombay studios then, I saw famous actors and stars freely accessible in gardens, relaxing and mingling during breaks and free times. Being a crew member myself and passionately interested in still photography, I decided to buy a second-hand Rolleicord camera, which I did, and shot many
informal photographs. That was also a turning point in shaping my future professional life as a photographer.

Amrit: Though Daaera was a flop at the box office, it is considered as a cult film today by most cineastes and critics. I believe the film was shot at the Bombay Talkies studios in Malad, the far-off suburb on Bombay’s western railways. By the way, I have written a book titled Franz Osten and the Bombay Talkies: A Journey from Munich to Malad, it was published in 2001 by the Goethe Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan), Bombay. I will appreciate if you could say something about this studio, if you could pull out some reminisces from your alert memory vault.

Jay: Not so much, but I do remember it was a huge and excellent studio with many shooting floors, unfortunately by that time the founder Himanshu Rai was no more and his wife Devika Rani had left the company. Well, as I told you already, during breaks between shots (when shooting would not be taking place, nor rehearsals or make-up or during lunch breaks) when actors would be relaxing or chit-chatting among them, I would, with my Rolleicord catch them in their natural moods and activities. I remember taking photographs of Meena Kumari (Sheetal of Daaera), Nasir Khan (Sharan Kumar of Daaera), Nargis, Dilip Kumar, and others who would be working on some other films or just visiting the studio to see the shoot. In fact, gradually, I began to earn more money through my informal photography than working as an assistant cameraman. I could see my dream of becoming a photographer getting realized.

Intermission: Lunch Break

We are on email connected by words and not images and sounds. Ullal informs me “I have to stop now. After lunch, I will send the 2 nd part.” It was 14.00 in Hamburg and 17.30 in Mumbai. I am a bit demanding on Ullal since I wanted to extract more information from him about the studios and prevailing filmmaking practices those days. He had always been so patient and generous with me. He is still a young enthusiast.

Before our Part II of the dialogue begins, let me say something about the Bombay Talkies studios, Malad. By the year 1952-53, when the cinematographer M.W. Mukadam (under whom Jay Ullal was doing his apprenticeship) was shooting Daaera, Bombay Talkies Ltd., the company and the studio (considered to be one of the best in Asia), were gasping for their existence. In the early 1950s, the studio declined despite efforts by the workers’ association to save it, and it made only one more film, Phani Majumdar’s Baadbaan in1954.

In other words, the 20-year-old Jay Ullal had seen this magnificent studio still existing. Today, its property is in a pathetic shambles. In my personal capacity, I had approached the Mumbai Heritage Committee through letters in the hope of saving / documenting-on-site its grand history before it was completely wiped off, but no effective steps were taken maybe because it had already gone into private hands.– AG

Ullal is back from lunch. He writes, “Yes, I finished my lunch. It is not raining here, nice sunny weather.”

Part II: Post-lunch break in Hamburg, the 87-year-old doesn’t need any siesta

Jay: Rolleicord camera brought me lots of luck!!!The informal photographs of Nargis, Meena Kumari, Geeta Bali, Ashok Kumar and others were much appreciated. Later, I became close friends with the Dutt family. Nargis arranged and inaugurated my photo exhibition in Bombay which opened on the 19 th January 1980 at Coomaraswamy Hall of the Prince of Wales Museum (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya); the exhibition was on for one month. In fact, she spent money for hiring the hall, for framing and hanging the photographs, for designing and printing of invitation cards, and for inviting media people, etc.

Nargis spent holidays with her two daughters here in our Hamburg house. Her daughters wanted to see the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen and we drove them there, spending the entire day. Even now, we are personal family friends. Sunil Dutt with Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) spent almost a month here with us for Sanju’s treatment in Hamburg.

Amrit: You also said that Leica camera changed your life initially, the old Leica that belonged to one of your relations. You know, I have playfully titled this piece of our conversation after a song from the film C.I.D. (1956), Leica pehla pehla pyaar… Raj Khosla-directed C.I.D. was produced by Guru Dutt. I am sure you have some common Mangalore roots here too; I mean Guru Dutt (1925-1964) and you.

Jay: Oh yes, very much. Guru Dutt’s mother and my mother were teachers in the same school back in Mangalore. Guru Dutt had invited me to take the photographs of his wedding with Geeta Roy. It was a small function at their Matunga residence, with a very few invitees. He asked me to photograph the wedding but only on one condition that after exposing I will return all the rolls to him. I did. And consequently, I have not a single photograph of that event in my possession. I had shot this wedding on my good old Leica. [The simple marriage ceremony was held on 26 May 1953- AG.]

Guru Dutt’s younger brother Atmaram Padukone (1930-1994) was a personal friend. I had stayed at his fiancé Nagaratna’s family at Hindu Colony, Dadar. They had a big flat and she was a well-known classical dancer. Later she married Atmaram. We were friends till the time Atmaram passed away. Rajni, my wife, and I would meet them during our annual vacations in Bombay. [Geeta Roy and her family stayed at Dadar. neighboring Matunga. – AG]

Amrit: And what about the cinematographer M.W. Mukadam, your mentor? Did you retain your contacts with him, too?

Jay: After Mukadam gave up working actively in Bollywood, he started his business of camera equipment hiring. He had excellent state-of-the-art camera equipment. Sometimes, he wanted some spare parts for his camera and would contact me. I would help him to obtain them from Germany. For many years I had kept contacts with him.

Amrit: Any special memories of Daaera when it was being shot at the Bombay Talkies studio? As a film historian, theorist, and curator, I consider Daaera as quite a significant film for its unusual elliptical form, it is quite unusual in the way it has been shot, the way its frames have been composed and the close-ups taken. The end scene lasts for over two minutes, very dynamic in its apparent stasis which it is not; in its the temporal elasticity it deepens the memory and the mood along with a disturbing sense of melancholy. Daaera ends with this unusual shot, quite risky for a popular film but Kamal Amrohi, like an artist, took the risk in his film-making praxis, I would like to think.

Jay: The director Kamal Amrohi was very friendly, he would often ask me to lunch with him and Meena Kumari, sometimes also with other crew members.

Amrit: How about Vachan? Its operating cameraman was Pratap Dave. I believe Vachan was shot at Ashok Studios, Andheri East, and Famous Studios, Mahalakshmi. The film was produced by Devendra Goel. Directed by Raj Rishi, Vachan had starred Geeta Bali, Rajendra Kumar, Balram and others. Any of its memories?

Jay: Yes, it was largely shot in a studio at Andheri. Most of the time, I had worked at this studio and not at Famous, Tardeo. During my apprenticeship (e.g. on Daaera) I was not paid but during the making of Vachan, Devendra Goel gave me some token money. I am sure my boss Mukadam must have asked him to do so. Transport was never a problem; Goel would first pick up Mukadam from his Dadar residence, then me from Matunga West and then Rajendra Kumar from Bandra West. Those days, Rajendra Kumar was a budding artiste and he stayed at the cheap Marina Guest House at Bandra. He would stand on the opposite side of it waiting for us, to be picked up, and we would all proceed to the Andheri studio where Vachan was being shot.

I remember once Sardar Malik had told me not to befriend the then struggling Rajendra Kumar, but who knew then that the same Rajendra Kumar (1929-1999) would become the famous Jubilee Kumar of Bollywood. All his films became hit, celebrating jubilee runs (25 weeks or 50 weeks).

Yes, Pratap Dave was a friend; both he and his wife lived at Borivali in a small flat then. [Pratap Dave was an assistant cameraman on Daaera, along with Dattaram and Suryakant, and he was the Operating Cameraman on Vachan; the chief cinematographer was M.W. Mukadam and Jay Ullal as apprentice assistant. – AG]

The chip in Jay Ullal (b. 9 September 1933)’s brain has gigabytes of memories and would need continuous retrieval, but Hamburg is almost four hours before my time in Mumbai and he has to take dinner too. But –

But instead of a dinner break, a Postscript

Back to my title song: Leica pehla pehla pyaar…

Amrit: Jay, you know this song that I have paraphrased with your life-changing Leica, is from the film C.I.D. that starred Dev Anand (1923-2011) with Waheeda Rehman. I am sure you have still one more story to narrate before you leave for dinner.

Jay: It was sometime in the 1970s. I was travelling first class by Air India from Frankfurt to Bombay. I was on the aisle seat and on the window seat was, you know, who? J.R.D. Tata. He was quite keen to know about my life-story and how I joined the German magazine Stern, etc.

We were in the second row; in the first row was a handsome gentleman, who borrowed a journal from me, very politely. After a while, J.R.D. tells me that he was Bollywood’s famous star Dev Anand. Somehow, I could not place him immediately at that time, I had seen him when he was much younger. But then we chatted and exchange cards. He invited me to his Juhu house but somehow, I was never able to go there while in Bombay.

Amrit: What a triumvirate! J.R.D. Tata, Dev Anand, and Jay Ullal… as the Air India Maharaja bowed down in his royal adab (respect and politeness) … After all, you are Jaywant, the Victorious…

Please don’t go away; this one is for the dessert…
Five to eight years later…

At the Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay / Mumbai, after about five to eight years of Jay Ullal’s meeting with J.R.D. Tata and Dev Anand on board Air India flight from Frankfurt to Bombay…

Jay: My wife Rajni and I were in Bombay again. One afternoon, after we had our lunch at the Taj Mahal Hotel, we were waiting at the entrance for our car, and there comes J.R.D. As he was walking in, he noticed us and stopped, looked at me, and said, “Hi, you are from Stern, Hamburg. Please come and join me for coffee.” Since we had an important and urgent appointment waiting, we politely thanked him. But look, what memory this wonderful old man possessed and what humility! I will always cherish my memories with this great Indian legend…

Birthday Party: A Public Invitation

9 September 2020: Today is Jay Ullal’s 87 th birth anniversary and for his birthday party’s public reception, join us…

Had Meena Kumari (1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) been alive today, she would have certainly also joined us. She was only about a month older than Jay Ullal. And we would have had a double birthday bash…

Many Happy Returns of the Day, Jay…

Amrit Gangar-Jay Ullal, Mumbai-Hamburg, 29 August 2020 – 4 September 2020

Amrit Gangar

Mumbai-based film theorist, curator and historian

He has to his credit three books on German filmmakers and a musicologist, viz. (a) Franz Osten and the Bombay Talkies: A Journey from Munich to Malad, 2001; (b) Paul Zils and the Indian Documentary, 2003; (c) Walter Kaufmann: The Music that Still Rings at Dawn, Every Dawn, 2013. All these three books have been published by the Goethe Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan), Mumbai.
Gangar was the consultant curator of the National Museum of Indian Cinema, Mumbai which is India’s first national film museum under Government of India. He has also curated film programs for the Kala Ghoda Artfest, Mumbai; Kochi-Musziris Biennale, Kerala; Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen, etc. He has presented his theory of Cinema of Prayoga at various venues in India and abroad, including the Pompidou Centre, Paris; the Tate Modern, London; Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan; West Bengal; NCPA, Mumbai, etc. He writes both in English and Gujarati languages and has been awarded by the Gujarat Sahitya Akademi, Gandhinagar.