2) Vijay Deshapande withJRD Tata at Mumbai Airport…
Good Morning,
Thanx for courteous response with kind words on my ‘Memories of Air India’s Iconic Mascot.’ As they say, “One story leads to another.” Here is another interesting info on above rare photographs given by my good friends…
Photo No. 1:
Jahangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata – JRD – was an aviator and an important businessman. He was given India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992. He was born in Paris. His parents were Persian and French. He was a founder of TCS Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Titan Industries, Voltas and Air India.
The same photo was given to me by my good friend and well known photographer andphoto journalist from Mumbai, late Gautam Rajadhyaksha. Please read his comments on the photo…
“I liked this picture of J R D Tata simply because it was done at short notice. His book Keynotes was about to release and this photo was for the cover.
A prominent photographer had taken his pictures, and I thought they were very good, but they showed his age. He was in his mid-80s then.
But I realized every man has his vanity and he wanted a younger-looking picture. That was the first time I used a soft focus filter on the camera since then the soft focus has stuck with me to clean up his face a bit.
In the 1980s, we did not have Photoshop program; you had to do everything with lighting and filters.
During the shoot I realised what a wonderful man he was.
He gave me an hour and behaved exactly like I wanted him to for the picture. We had a lovely conversation on cameras and import-export duties.
A few months later when I met him in Delhi, he recognised me and said, “I really loved the pictures that you had shot of me; at least I don’t look like a thermos flask.”
Photo No. 2:
My another good friend and neighbor from Mumbai, late Vijay Deshpande was passionateAutograph Collector. He was an avid collector, included J.R.D. Tata’s autograph in his collection. In 200, Deshpande decided to sell his extensive collection to donate the money for Gujarat earthquake relief in 2001, mentioning J.R.D. Tata as one of the celebrity signatories. He used to work as a Senior Ground Manager in Air India, Mumbai airport…
One of Vijay’s interesting pieces of rare collections…
I hope, you like this factual article. “Wishing you a Happy ThanksGiving..!”
Best regards,
Jayant & Veena.
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