In Memoriam: Danish Siddiqui, 'Journalist Of The Year'

Pulitzer awardee photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who died during an assignment in Afghanistan on July 16, 2021, has been posthumously awarded as the ‘Journalist of the Year’ for 2020 by the Mumbai Press Club.

Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Wednesday presented the annual ‘RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism’, instituted by the Mumbai Press Club, in a virtual event.

He presented the prestigious award to Siddiqui “for his spectrum of investigative and impactful news photography”. Danish Siddiqui’s wife Frederike Siddiqui received the award.

“He was a man with a magical eye and was rightly regarded as one of the foremost photojournalists of this era. If a picture can tell a thousand words, his photos were novels,” Chief Justice Ramana said while paying tributes to the scribe.

Siddiqui covered myriad events and explored several different subjects with the same eye for detail, a novel perspective and a unique ability to let his humanity shine through.

His series of pictures of a secret child marriage in August 2013 are punctuated with palpable empathy. Here’s how Siddiqui himself described the series named A Child Born Of Children: “I first took pictures of this child couple in a small village in the desert state of Rajasthan in 2010. Back then I had no idea that I would come back to this village again. But life had something else in store and I have been visiting them every year since, documenting the changes in and around their relationship. When I went to their house last week I was greeted by the loud wailing of a baby. It was their four-month-old son Alok, which means enlightenment in Hindi. Last year when I visited them, I had learnt that Krishna, the child bride, was seven months pregnant. I wasn’t surprised at all but out of curiosity I asked Gopal, her husband, why he was in such a hurry to expand the family. He shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Nothing else to do, no work, life is so boring.’ I was a bit taken aback. There are those like me who live in big cities and plan meticulously before taking the plunge into parenthood. And here this teenager was telling me that he wanted to have a child and risk his young wife’s life because of boredom. That again is a different India.”

Then there are the photographs he captured in Bhopal, the site of one of the worst industrial disasters in world history. Titled Bhopal’s Legacy, his subjects include rusted chemical tanks, the abandoned Union Carbide factory, children born with congenital deformities several decades after the disaster, families sundered apart due to death and disease — all underscored by the fellowship that each of these photographs lucidly portrays.

As Siddiqui himself said, “While I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story.”

Here’s a look at his profile, in his own words:

“My earliest memories of photography are a camera borrowed from a neighbour, black and white rolls of film bought with half my pocket money, and a school hiking trip in the Himalayas.

My first encounter with formal training in photography was at film school, where one module was dedicated to still photography. I was also exposed to photojournalism while working as a television journalist with one of the largest news television networks in India. Ninety percent of the photography I have learnt has come from experimentation in the field.

My first assignment for Reuters was, as an intern, to accompany the chief photographer for India to a religious festival that is held every 12 years in a different city around the country. Hundreds of thousands of Hindus take part in this religious carnival of sorts. It was a great experience for me, and I learnt new shooting, editing and filming techniques.

The assignment that has left the biggest mark on me so far is the story of Rubina, the child star of the film “Slumdog Millionaire”, after her shanty in a slum colony was gutted by fire. I was amazed at the little girl’s courage and grit. She’d lost everything in one night, including the precious photographs from the Academy Awards evening in Los Angeles, where she’d walked the red carpet with her co-actors.

While I enjoy covering news stories – from business to politics to sports – what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story. I really like covering issues that affect people as the result of different kind of conflicts.

I shoot for the common man who wants to see and feel a story from a place where he can’t be present himself.

My biggest lesson so far has been to adapt myself as quickly as possible when the story changes in the middle of an assignment.

I respect my subjects the most – they give me my inspiration.”

Siddiqui, aged 38, died too soon and too suddenly. Although formal accounts say his death took place at Spin Boldak, Afghanistan on July 16, 2021 while embedded with the Afghan Special Forces, reports of how he spent his final minutes alive are conflicting and varying.

His last Twitter update (on 11.48 pm on July 13, 2021) reads: “Afghan Special Forces, the elite fighters are on various frontlines across the country. I tagged along with these young men for some missions. Here is what happened in Kandahar today while they were on a rescue mission after spending the whole night on a combat mission.” It is accompanied by the photograph of around three soldiers in combat gear carrying weapons, taken against the sublime shot of a night sky which is fast turning into day.