It could have been called Kamat Photo Flash. There’s a story behind why the founder of the photo studio that shot the publicity stills for ...
It could have been called Kamat Photo Flash. There’s a story behind why the founder of the photo studio that shot the publicity stills for at least 800-odd Hindi films opted for the snazzier-sounding Kamat Foto Flash.
Damodar Kamat was a lover of languages. Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Arabic – he knew them all, said his granddaughter, Neha Kamat. Foto, the German word for photograph, had a nice ring to it.
The company that Damodar Kamat set up in 1945 is an integral part of Hindi film history. For at least six decades, “Kamat Foto Flash” was a staple in a movie’s opening credits alongside “Costumes by Stylo” and “Processed at Filmcenter”. A reign that began during the age when photographs were shot on black-and-white endured through colour all the way until the advent of digital photography in the 2000s.
“We have at least three lakh to four lakh negatives in all formats,” said Damodar Kamat’s son, Vidyadhar, who now runs the agency. “I stopped counting after 1995.”
Production stills bring alive a movie’s look and feel, the major characters, the costumes, make-up and hairstyles. In the years before trailers were used to promote films, stills were the only glimpse fans had into a film’s narrative universe before...
