good luck girls
1. Girls from the Gujarati community would come to Vanguard Studios with flowers in their hair and dangle their feet over a paper moon while sitting on a chair. A photograph in this type of a setting was a must, they had just completed a one-week fast called Mora Kat for their future good luck!
2. Now if they wanted to become heroines, Vanguard Studios had a pictures division since 1947…
3. … Or if they aspired to be the Prime Minister, Vanguard took strikingly realistic photographs of national leaders.
4. And when they completed a higher education degree, Vanguard supplied the convocation photos, with a gown and hood for free!
5. So Dear Parents, Vanguard prepared your girls to lead, whether on the silver screen or the cover of a Diwali magazine.
6. The proprietor, Jayantilal Chhabildas Sanghavi (portrayed above between Nehru and Gandhi), established Vanguard Studios in 1928 on a sound foundation – a broadly nationalistic outlook, business acumen, aesthetic appeal and up-to-date equipment.
7. In 1930, when Babu Genu was martyred on Kalbadevi Road, under a truck he was trying to stop that was carrying foreign cloth, Vanguard was the only studio selected to photograph the Congress martyr.
8. In the span of a few years, Vanguard had tilted the photographic balance in the ‘Native Town’ of the city, in favour of Girgaum rather than Kalbadevi.
vanguard studios
1928
365 Girgaum Road, Opp. Thakurdwar P.O.
23rd March, 2023.
Supported by:
Photos by Philippe Calia.
GOOD LUCK GIRLS
