Senior photographer Jagdish Mali, who is credited for immortalising Rekha in his flattering frames, was found wandering the lanes of Versova on Monday afternoon in a deplorable state. Mali, who was considered filmdom’s go-to guy for clutter-breaker portfolios, was dressed in a tattered t-shirt and nothing else. “He was covered with faeces and looked as though he had not eaten in a while,” says actress Mink Brar, who happened to spot him when she was distributing blanket to beggars. Mink, who is one of the many glamour aspirants to have worked with him, recognised him despite his decrepit state. Outside a fast food joint on Yari Road, the actress and her brother tried to talk to him. “But he would not answer,” says Mink. “He seemed very disturbed and completely disconnected.” Despite plying him with food and getting hold of a pair of shorts to cover him up, Mali remained unresponsive. “We asked him where he wanted to go. He said: ‘My studio.’ He did not remember that he had sold off his studio where some of the biggest names of the film industry have been photographed. It broke our heart.” For those who came in late, Jagdish Mali, who started off in the 80s, was the first port of call for both newcomers and stars who wanted a new portfolio or feature on a magazine cover. In the 90s, he peaked with both his film and feature work earning him fans and moolah. “He was man with a heart, but a loner,” says filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani, who worked with him in Shola Aur Shabnan and Aankhen. Apparently, Mali was keen to see his daughter Antara get into films, and did his best to recommend her to filmmakers. “But Antara lived with her mother in Mahim, while Jagdish lived alone in Aram Nagar,” says Nihalani.
