Picture Gallery: Courtroom drama features Khairani Road bindery

Chaitanya Tamhane, director of Court : During the scripting process, I was trying to think of a space in which the protagonist of the movie, Narayan Kamble, could exist and which would reflect his inner life. He is a cultural activist and a political writer in the film. I remembered a photo feature by PrintWeek India called 'Binders of Khairani: Masters of the lost art', written by Rushikesh Aravkar. It was Ramu Ramanathan who had pointed me towards this wonderful piece.

Tamhane says, "Suddenly the binding facility at Sahil Print Art (in the picture) seemed like a beautiful and evocative location to set the scene in. The depth, the texture, and the various activities that I saw in that room, fascinated me on a visual as well as a thematic level. It became the perfect hideout for Narayan after he has been released from jail, and where he would print his subversive and provocative book, 'A History of Humiliation'."

Khairani Road, located in Saki Naka comprises of 12 book binding firms

Court's main protagonist Narayan Kamble, played by Vira Sathidar, getting his book readied at Sahil Print Arts

A still from the movie Court. Click here to watch the trailer.

Masters of book binding

Sahil binds some of the magazine titles of Times of India and Hindustan Times

A pile of hard work

Packing the bound books for delivery

Skilled craftsman, busy folding the printed sheet

The book binders create books out of the printed forms that were supplied to them

The binders of Khairani are skilled and have years of experience

Manufacturing books with value-additions - in record turn-around time

Mastering the self-taught trick of folding

Sorting the sheets to form a perfect signature

A perfect example of precise binding

A well bound catalogue and magazine

Binding shop in action

The entrance of Imtiyaz Book Binding Works facility

Self-taught workforce

A Sadana cutting machine

The facility at Imtiyaz Book Binding Works: once more than 30 craftsmen worked here

Imtiyaz Choudhary: "quite optimistic about the future of books"

A FoldWel semi-automatic folding machine

The operator preparing the manual cutting machine

A skill comparable to the millions of hand-weavers in India

The manual process of cutting the printed sheets

The top jobs of Imtiyaz Book Binding Works

Catering to the new market with innovative print applications

The original Perfecta programmable cutting machine ensures precise work

Welbound's single-clamp perfect binder makes it way in a manual world

Stacked book blocks - prim and proper

Aftab Khan of Afreen Book Binding displays his work

The book blocks kept ready for binding

The unpaved, rough, streets leading to Imtiyaz Book Binding Works

Printed sheets being folded to signatures on a folding machine

Drilling the books for riveting

A two-colour Heidelberg Sordz press at Shri Rajesh Art Printers

A display of finished books at Shri Rajesh Art Printers