Amichand Deen Dayal

After the untimely demise of Raja Gyan Chand in around 1919, there was a hiatus in the studio’s existence. However his youngest son Ami Chand reignited the sparks of the illustrious legacy. The Secunderabad studio was restarted around the late 1920s (studio registers exist from 1932 onwards) and the State patronage of the VII Nizam was regained.

Though fate had willed Amichand to forego the direct learning of photographic skills from his grandfather or father, he skilled himself in photography through distance education. He earned a Diploma Certificate in Colouring Photographs & Miniatures in Oil from the National Art School, Chicago in 1937 and a Certificate of Graduation in Professional Photography from New York Institute of Photography, NY in 1941.

His fast growing body of work and photographic accomplishments saw him become a member of the Royal Photographic Society of Britain in 1935 and earn its prestigious Associateship in 1937. He was also a licenciate member of the British Institute of Photographers from 1938 onwards.

Amichand’s work is a brilliant chronicle of the transfer of power from the era of Mir Osman Ali Khan to the Indian Union. His camera saw the royalty, palaces and hunts eventually yield to the temples of modern India – its industries.

The monarchy gives way to the elected representatives of India; his camera captures key milestone events in the integration of Hyderabad – the visits of Nehru & Sardar Patel, the Nizam becoming the ‘Raj Pramukh’ , the birth of Andhra Pradesh and finally the passing away of the Nizam in 1967.