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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian photojournalist and documentary photographer}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Sunil Janah<br />
| image = Sunil Janah.png<!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --><br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Sunil Janah<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1918|4|17}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Assam]], India<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|6|21|1918|4|17|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[Berkeley, California]], USA<br />
| nationality = Indian<br />
| other_names = <br />
| known_for = 1943 Bengal famine coverage<br />
<br />
}}<br />
'''Sunil Janah''' (17 April 1918&nbsp;— 21 June 2012)<ref>[http://www.jnu.ac.in/SSS/Archive/SunilJanah.html Virtual exhibition of Sunil Janah, P.C. Joshi Archives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107135405/http://www.jnu.ac.in/SSS/Archive/SunilJanah.html |date=2014-11-07 }}</ref><ref name="deccanchronicle1">{{cite news|author=24 June 2012 IANS |url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/bengal-famine-lensman-dies-96-427 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203131905/http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/bengal-famine-lensman-dies-96-427 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-02-03 |title=Bengal famine lensman dies at 96 |newspaper=Deccan Chronicle |access-date=2012-06-25}}</ref> was an Indian [[Photojournalism|photojournalist]] and [[documentary photography|documentary photographer]] who worked in India in the 1940s. Janah documented India's independence movement, its peasant and labour movements, famines and riots, rural and tribal life, as well as the years of rapid urbanization and industrialization. He was best known for his coverage of the [[Bengal famine of 1943]].<ref name="deccanchronicle1"/><br />
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The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of [[Padma Shri]] in 2012.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015}}</ref><br />
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==Life and work==<br />
Sunil Janah was born on 17 April 1918 in [[Dibrugarh district|Dibrugarh]], [[Assam]]<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/world/asia/sunil-janah-who-photographed-bengal-famine-dies-at-94.html?_r=0</ref> but grew up in Kolkata. He attended [[St. Xavier's College, Kolkata]] at the [[University of Calcutta]]. There, he joined politically [[left-wing politics|leftist]] students.<br />
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Communist politician [[Puran Chand Joshi]] urged Janah to abandon his English studies and pursue a career in photography. Janah traveled to Bengal with [[Chittaprosad Bhattacharya]] to photograph the damage caused by the 1943 famine. He moved with Bhattacharya to Bombay and joined the [[Progressive Writers Association]] and [[Indian People's Theatre Association]].<br />
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He was a co-founder of [[Calcutta Film Society]].<ref name="deccanchronicle1"/> He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79881|title= Padma Awards|publisher=pib|date= 27 January 2013 |access-date= 27 January 2013 }}</ref><br />
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Noted for the beauty and technical quality of his compositions, Janah's photographs are significant in their historical content as well as their emotional connect.<ref>[http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198065807.do Photographing India: Sunil Janah; Oxford University Press, India] {{ISBN|978-0-19-806580-7}}</ref><br />
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He was best known for his coverage of the [[Bengal famine of 1943]].<ref name="deccanchronicle1"/><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1519/15190690.htm|title=Documenting society and politics|first=V. K.|last=Ramachandran|magazine=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]|date=September 1998|access-date=10 June 2012}}</ref> <br />
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===Photographer of the Nehruvian Era===<br />
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In 'People's War' and after that 'People's Age' Janah used to have one page for a photo feature for which he photographed the lives of ordinary people, their struggles, the working class at work, rowing boats, catching fish, in coal mines, from men and women working in homes and fields to bow and arrow carrying tribal people, farmers and workers heading to protest, revolutionaries of Telangana and via these photographs he established the Communist Party's ideology and commitment amongst the people.<ref>[http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv19n1/sunil.htm ]</ref><br />
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Janah made portraits of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Sheikh Abdullah, Faiz, and J. Krishnamurthi.<br />
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Photographer and curator [[Ram Rahman]] said, "Janah's work is the defining epic document of the last decade of the freedom struggle and the first decade of free India&nbsp;— a chronicler of the 'Nehruvian' years".<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/portraitist-of-the-nehruvian-era/article3559899.ece ]</ref><br />
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==Death==<br />
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He died on 21 June 2012 at his home in Berkeley, California due to natural causes. He is survived by his son, Arjun, who lives in Brooklyn, New York.<ref name="deccanchronicle1"/><br />
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==Publications==<br />
*Shadowing a Philanthropologist{{Verify source|date=May 2015}}, By Ramachandra Guha,<ref>[http://suniljanah.org/sjanah/publications/v-elwin.htm ]</ref> University of Chicago Press, 398 pp, {{ISBN|978-0-226-31047-3}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}<br />
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}<br />
{{Bengal famine of 1943}}<br />
<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Janah, Sunil}}<br />
[[Category:1918 births]]<br />
[[Category:2012 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:People from Dibrugarh district]]<br />
[[Category:Indian photojournalists]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Documentary photographers]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian male journalists]]<br />
[[Category:Journalists from Assam]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian photographers]]<br />
[[Category:Photographers from Assam]]</div>>Lopifalko