Book sheds light on unseen side of Mukarram Jah

At a low-key event hosted in the forecourt of Afzal Mahal of Chowmahalla Palace, Prince Azmet Jah launched a biographical photobook on his father Mukarram Jah. Titled H.E.H. Mir Barkat Ali Khan Mukarram Jah Bahadur : The Life and Times of the Eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, it’s authored by architect Anuradha Naik.

“The book shows a side of my father that hasn’t been seen. And we had an exhibition at Chowmhalla. But it’s much nicer to have a book where you can actually browse through the pages and look at the photos and the history,” said Azmet Jah speaking about the book for which he has written the foreword along with his sister princess Shekhar Jah.

“It throws a light on my father’s life with some really rare photographs like the one where he is playing with his grandson or with his other daughterPrincess Niloufer,” said Mr. Jah whose photographs of his family find a place in the book.

While the exhibition hosted a few days ago in the palace complex had 225 photographs, the book has 300 photographs. “The book on Nizam through his photographs shows the person he was. It is a natural progression as 70% of the photographs are from private collections of the family and have never been seen before,” said Ms. Naik about the 275-page coffee table book.