The late Mysore Maharaja, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar had a special place in everyone’s hearts due to his humanness towards people I photographed him and his creative collections for over two and half decades. Highness had a dedicated approach to creativity as he designed his garments, his hotels and his Palaces with meticulous fastidiousness. He was always profuse with giving due credit to his wife, Maharani Pramoda Devi Wadiyar. There were times we would sit around his private study and he would talk of royalty and lifetimes of his predecessors. Whenever he returned from his curating trips to Europe and England, he was effusive about the wonders of an artifact or a period furniture that he had brought back. To me he was generous, kind and affectionate. He respected artists, and my team and I were always treated special when we stayed in his summer resort at Ooty. Several times at our Bangalore studios and at Fernhill Palace in Ooty we would spend weeks shooting his collections with a large number of models drawn from across the country. We shot films, calendars and brochures for his Bangalore, Mysore and other outlets. He was the ultimate stylist and guided the shoot flow according to the feel he wanted or an emphasis he needed to elaborate. This Ayudha Puja day, which is part of the Dasara festival when he would dedicate himself to the multiple nuances of rituals and other regal duties, I miss him more so, as I had over the years photographed his keen and detailed attention to the smallest seemingly innocuous ceremony with patience and focus. #royalfamily #royalfamilyofindia #maharajaofmysore #srikantadatta #mysore #dasara #ayudhapooja #festivalsofindia #photography #sudhirramchandranphotography #grateful https://www.instagram.com/p/B3UqqnUFzj1/?igshid=1bc1hmo8rkqx1
