THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was in 1982, at the National Athletic Meet held at the Kozhikode Medical College ground, that he first captured Usha through his ‘120 camera’ lens. A young Usha had bagged the first place in that meet. That was one of the first images of Usha to be published in the media.
For photographer P Musthafa, that was just the beginning of a huge collection of photographs of Usha. P Musthafa, an ace photographer from Kozhikode, had little idea back then that the young athlete would go on to give some stellar performances in international athletic meets in the years to come.
“Though it was Usha’s first photograph to be published, the one that appeared in the front page of ‘The New Indian Express’ with my name was the one with long jumper Mercy Kuttan,” reminisces Musthafa, pointing at the first image of Usha, ever to be captured on the field, displayed at the Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery as part of his exhibition ‘Ore Oru Usha.’
Ninety-one photographs of Usha, during various stages of her athletic and personal life, have been displayed at the gallery. Some of them show Usha not as the strong-headed winner on the field, but as an everyday homemaker, either cooking or watching her son play.
“Usha is a very graceful person, and an excellent cook as well. She is very strong, but very simple and homely at heart,” says Musthafa, who is also now a close friend of Usha and her family.
The collection had some of the best photofinish images of Usha on track, one of the frames showing Usha in the lead with Shiny Wilson following closely, just before reaching the finishing point at the Asian Athletic Championship. “This is one of my favourites. Usha won gold and Shiny won silver in that event,” says Musthafa.
Musthafa, who was active in the field for nearly 40 years, has captured some of the recent past of India, unlike no other. His interest in politics, music and elephants has led him to capture images that speak volumes about the history and beauty of India, both in black and white and colour. After winning various national and state awards for excellent photography, he retired from the field as a photographer with the ‘Malayala Manorama.’
Musthafa, who had earlier been part of a group exhibition on Usha, is conducting a solo exhibition of hers for the first time. “My next dream is to conduct an exhibition with photographs of elephants. I love elephants,” he says. He currently resides at Chalappuram with his wife, daughter and sons.