Ishwar Bidri, veteran cinematographer who worked in the Hindi film industry for over 40 years, died in Belagavi on Sunday. He was 88.
He was an associate of industry greats Gurudatt, V. Shantaram and V.K. Murthy, veteran cinematographer.
He died at KLE Society’s Prabhakar Kore Hospital. He was brought in after he collapsed following a heart attack during a marriage ceremony he attended in Belagavi a week ago. He suffered another attack in the hospital and efforts to revive him failed. His last rites were conducted in Vijayapura on Sunday evening.
Ishwar Bidri hailed from Banahatti in undivided Vijayapura district, which is now in Bagalkot district.
Having grown up in Banahatti and Vijayapura, he left for Mumbai in the 1950s. He joined as an apprentice under V.K. Murthy, legendary cinematographer. He later joined as an assistant to Dwaraka Divechi, senior cinematographer who shot films such as Sholay.
Ishwar Bidri worked for other directors, including Ramesh Sippy. He was the credited cinematographer for Damini directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. He continued to work for him in Andaaz Apna Apna and Ghatak. He also shot Andaaz by Raj Kanwar.
Ishwar Bidri had a long association with J.P. Dutta who directed films such as Border, Yateem, Hathiyar, Batwara and the unreleased Sarhad.
“Ishwar Bidri was among the gifted children of undivided Vijayapura district who have not got their due credit,” said A.L. Nagur, Vijayapura-based researcher and historian. He compared Ishwar Bidari to film personalities such as V. Shantaram, Shantesh Patil, Amirbai, Gauhar Jan and Sangappa Goggawad, who made it big in the Hindi film industry.
