The Legacy of Raja Deen Dayal

Director : Jaichandiram
Duration : 20 minutes 31 seconds
Produced by IGNCA

The film explores the life and times of Raja Deen Dayal who revolutionalized photography in India through his meticulous work. Deen Dayal was trained as an engineer. At 20, he was chief estimator and draughtsman with the PWD, and began working with the camera. He received the title Raja from the Nizam of Hyderabad and the royal warrant of appointment from Queen Victoria. Sir Henry Daly, the British agent in Central India, assigned him to cover the Prince of Wales’s visit in 1875. He worked with large format bellows, Dallmeyer lenses and dry plates, printed photographs on POP(Papers) and gold toned them for permanence. He set up a flourishing firm with studios at Secunderabad which catered exclusively to women. The firm employed fifty people, including German studio operators. He toured the countryside by bullock and rail. He extensively photographed archaeological sites, architectural monuments, including palaces and forts, places of worship and the landscape, and acted as the architectural photographer for Sir Lepel Griffin, the British agent in Central India.

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