Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi may have been photographed by many photographers during his time, but there was a photographer who followed him like his shadow.
Kanu Gandhi, a callow young man in his 20s and a grand nephew of the Mahatma captured the Indian legend from a very close distance with his Rolleiflex camera.
The grand nephew was privileged to see intimately the man behind the Mahatma, and his photographs of that decade have immortalised those years before the freedom struggle.
Before Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Kanu Gandhi had shot some 2,000 pictures of the greatest leader of the Indian Independence movement.
Kanu’s photography of Mahatma remained in obscurity for decades gaining prominence only after a German researcher began compiling and selling them.
Kanu shared glimpses from that time surrounding the legend and his life over the long period, the late photographer's work now has been compiled into a book titled Kanu's Gandhi by Delhi-based Nazar Foundation, which is a non-profit trust founded by well-known photographers Prashant Panjiar and Dinesh Khanna.
The 150-page-book features 92 rare pictures of Mahatma Gandhi during the last decade of his life.
"These are very special photographs. They reflect the tribulations of a time when our nation was on the verge of independence. One can sense Bapu's concern from these images," says Panjiar.
Here are some of MK Gandhi’s rare pictures from the book ‘Kanu’s Gandhi’.
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