A heritage all by himself
Lanky, tall, an untucked shirt always open, a book in hand, a shoulder bag full of books, straight hair, black framed glasses, and excessively media-averse and simple.
That was Virchand Dharamsey , a selftaught Gujarati scholar who amassed a great body of knowledge on art topics, including archaeology, anthropology, architecture, etc., acquired merely through discussion, collaboration, and a gentle, sincere inquiry.
Books were his genuine buddies and he became a scholar dilettante. His favourite hangout was the Asiatic Society of Mumbai’s TownHall, Horniman Circle library, where he would spend entire days.
Dharamsey uncovered the historical crumbs that escaped notice. Providing detached directions for interested researchers to the appropriate newspapers and bulletins, he would then shuffle over to his corner and lean over his notes.
He loved visiting museums and libraries and buying books as a child. He quit school before matriculation and struck out on his own, learning from public libraries and making friends with people passionate about the arts and literature, while sipping coffee in Iranian eateries.
After his father’s business failed and his subsequent death, Dharmasey spent 20 years working for an export-import company. But in the evenings, he frequented Kala Ghoda’s cultural district, mingling with the best artists of the time. In his twenties, in 1956 he founded Ajanta Arts, a group for the arts and culture and coedited the magazine Ajanta, for a few years before money ran out. But it gave him a foothold in the many cultural circles that Bombay teemed with.
With little knowledge of cinema, apart from his father’s monthly purchase of one movie ticket, he collaborated closely with the Amateur Cine Society, planning film screenings and talks, which put him in touch with some of the top avant-garde cinema directors. As a self-taught modernist in the 1950s, he accumulated posters, show cards, letters, contracts, articles from leading film publications, and other archival information while conducting extensive research on the period.
This piqued his interest in Indian cinema’s mostly unknown silent era (pre-1934). He updated and significantly expanded its filmography in the 1980s. His mental map of its entire landscape allowed him to confidently pick up any thread and lead you through the maze. With time, film historians began to acknowledge him as the custodian of Indian silent films.
Dharamsey by age 40, left his employment and began working as a consultant for archaeologists; served as an interlocutor for visiting foreign experts and focused on research. He also got involved in several field investigations in Gujarat between 1980 and 1994 as a member of an archaeological team from the University of Pennsylvania. He also made extensive travels throughout Sri Lanka and India to study temple building.
Before Google even existed, he was Google. He was the tireless self- aught polymath on whom even experts relied; a mobile library of information and a renowned researcher who could recognise obscure stills and long-forgotten historical figures by sight. A contrarian at heart, he enjoyed a good debate, and nothing gave him greater glee than
debunking urban legends and upsetting conventional thought. Academic theory had to be supported by empirical data.
Drawing from every aspect of his life, delving deeply into Mumbai’s cultural landscape, he snatched up minute nuances that many scholars would
overlook. He had a bag full of tales from Mumbai. A biography of the great first Indian archaeologist Bhagwanlal Indraji (1839 –88) was Dharamsey’s significant contribution to literature
He also left a priceless collection of movie memorabilia. He belatedly received the Film Heritage Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 and a silver medallion.
Just a small portion of his vision was published. With a trouble expressing himself in Gujarati and English and poor public speaking skills, he frequently urged others to write and collaborated with numerous people over the years.
Dharamsey passed away in Navi Mumbai aged 88. Indian cinema lost a significant portion of its early history, which had only survived in his remarkable imagination.
A. Radhakrishnan is a Pune based freelance writer, poet and short story writer