History in the Making: The Visual Archives of Kulwant Roy - Hardcover

A priceless collection of photographs by press photographer Kulwant Roy telling the story of India from the 1930s to 1960s

Press photographer Kulwant Roy’s prints and negatives remained forgotten in boxes for over twenty-five years after his death until their inheritor Aditya Arya, a photographer himself, began cataloguing them. In the process, he discovered a rare and valuable visual archive, including many unpublished pictures, of a momentous era in India’s history.

Some of the rare visual documentation includes the Muslim League meetings, INA trials, the signing of the Indian Constitution, as well as significant post-Independence milestones such as the building of the Bhakra Nangal Dam. Enriched by an insightful text, written by historian Indivar Kamtekar, this book is a collector’s item for anyone who wishes to discover the multilayered dimensions behind India’s ‘tryst with destiny’.

Adita Arya started professional photography in 1980 after graduating in history from St Stephen’s College, Delhi. He has made a mark in advertising and corporate photography and has been exhibited all over the world, and published by well-known magazines. He is also the author of The Land of the Nagas, a photographic documentation of the Naga people.

Indivar Kamtekar teaches modern history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has been a faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study at Shimla. His PhD, from the University of Cambridge, was on the end of British rule in India.