Peek into Mumbai's local trains: A unique photo-zine experience

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limited All rights reserved. This “chronicle of a quirky sub-culture of shared reading” features photos taken in 2012 and beyond. Photo: Ritesh Uttamchandani Summary A new photo zine by Ritesh Uttamchandani looks at the charade of stolen glances and obvious intruders in the local train In the recently published photo zine, Snoops on a Train, you feel like a fly on the wall in a typical Mumbai local train compartment. Bursting at the seams, the commuters are part of the mass of humanity that daily enter this sardine can with 12 rakes. Some are looking out, others are engaging in small talk, while some are reading papers or staying glued to their phones—but each has one eye trained on someone else’s conversation/phone/reading material. “All must obey the unwritten law of sharing until their arrival at their destination eavesdrops on them… . Watch any reader closely, and you will see that someone is prying about his business. The snooper’s interest depends on the nature of the content held between the host’s loosely clenched fists,” writes photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani in his self-published introduction to the zine. This is his latest publication after books such as The Red Cat and Other Stories and Where are You. As you scroll through the images – all of them featuring male commuters – you feel like a dork yourself, watching this charade of stolen glances and obvious intrusions unfold in a train compartment. “I could only shoot in the men’s compartment. It is also a study of the average Indian male and the miseries of the workforce that flows north to south and back on a daily basis,” adds Uttamchandani. The reader becomes a silent spectator to this blurring of lines between the public and the private. This “chronicle of a quirky sub-culture of shared reading” features photos taken in 2012 and beyond. Uttamchandani experimented with the format of the zine by underlining the structure and sequence. He pieced the photos together to create new images. So, if one part of the image is printed on page 2, another part of it is on page 36. This was not the format he initially envisioned. While making the dummy in 2021, he placed all the images in linear order. By the second or third distribution, however, he was completely bored of it. So, he opened the stapled doll and repositioned the images. “I started stacking them on top of each other and then folded the spreads. This is how different parts of the images appear on different pages. This back and forth between the pages plays into the concept of peeking. New scenarios and fleeting relationships open up,” says Uttamchandani, who divides his time between Liverpool and Mumbai. This might be considered unconventional by purist standards – this breaking of the image – but the photo artist wanted to challenge the form. Snoops on a Train is a “silent zine”, without words or explanations. Given the sensory overload we experience daily, especially on social media, with photos always accompanied by extensive captions and voice overs, Uttamchandani wanted to allow the viewers to absorb the images and make their own connections with them. “I don’t need words here … sometimes it erodes curiosity,” he says. How significant is the photobook or zine for his language of experimentation? According to Uttamchandani, its importance has never really diminished. However, he treats it with a certain irreverence — creating his own form and language. “The photobook is a term that has come into use in the last decade. Before that it was the coffee table that was common. And now there’s the zine, which has certain qualities attached to it – a sense of resilience and urgency. I don’t adhere to any of those things. Who decides these qualities?” he asked. As someone who grew up with short stories, folk tales and a hearty diet of newspapers, the idea of ​​reading and the book is very important to him. The photo book therefore becomes a significant form in that context. However, he wants to stay away from the expensive coffee table format—which is associated with affluent customers, elaborate production styles and thick tomes. “I want to keep it simple and make sure the photobooks reach beyond the circle of artists and photojournalists. By designing intuitively and printing locally, I keep the form affordable and accessible without compromising the storytelling,” he says. Get all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. more topics #Features Read next story