Sooni Taraporevalas photographs are a comprehensive presentation of the Parsi community depicting their traditions and way of life. From a distance she has captured the last journey of a deceased Parsi towards the tower of silence, a circular, raised structure for excarnation. Behind the austere visual lies Taraporevala's keen interest in representing the times and the culture authentically.
- Identifier
- ngma-16918
- Material
- Pigment Print (Photograph)
- Note
- Screenwriter and Photographer, Sooni Taraporevala was born in 1957 in Bombay, India. After her schooling, she received a scholarship to attend Harvard University, where she studied English Literature and Photography followed by Film Theory and Criticism at the New York University. She received her MA in 1981, after which she returned to India to work as a freelance photographer. In 1986 she wrote her first screenplay, Salaam Bombay!, for director Mira Nair. The film was nominated for an Oscar. Her second screenplay, Mississippi Masala, also for Mira Nair, was made into a film starring Denzel Washington for which Taraporevala won the Osella award for Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, 1990. Her other screenplay credits include the films Such a Long Journey, based on the novel by Rohinton Mistry and directed by Sturla Gunnarson, the film Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar directed by Dr Jabbar Patel and The Namesake, directed by Mira Nair, based on the book by Jhumpa Lahiri. She wrote and directed her first feature film, Little Zizou, 2008, which won the National Award from the Indian government. In 2000 she also authored and published a book of her photographs PARSIS: The Zoroastrians of India, A Photographic Journey. Shot over 25 years, the book documents the community through intimate, everyday moments. Photographs from Parsis were included in Tate Modern's 2001 exhibition Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis, India Moderna IVAM Institut Valencia d'Art Modern 2008, Photoquai, Musee de Quai Branly, 2009, and most recently, solo shows at Harvard University's Sert Gallery in October 2012, Chemould Prescott Road in Mumbai and at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi where they are part of NGMA's permanent collection. In 2014, she was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. Taraporevala lives in Mumbai with her husband Dr. Firdaus Bativala, and their two children, Jahan and Iyanah.
- Pages
- 76.2 x 50.7 cm
- Published in
- India
- Type
- Photograph
