‘My endeavour is to preserve my grandfather’s legacy’

Archivist Peter Dietze tells Roshmila Bhattacharya how he discovered his grandfather c, who set up the Bombay Talkies studio.

Peter Dietze was in India recently with the archival exhibit, a part of ‘A Cinematic Imagination: Josef Wirsching & The Bombay Talkies’. In a conversation with Showtime, he opens up about the grandfather he never met, actor-producer Himanshu Rai, but whose legacy he wants to preserve and showcase to the world.

Excerpts:

The silent films your grandfather Himanshu Rai produced and featured in have since been restored and are playing across the world. Have you seen them?

Yes, I watched ‘A Throw of Dice’, first in Auckland, with a live musical score by Nitin Sawhney, then travelled to Trafalgar Square to see it with 5,000 of my closest Indian friends with the London Symphony Orchestra playing. I also watched ‘Shiraz’ at London’s Barbican Centre with a live musical score by Anoushka Shankar. My grandmother, Mary Hainlin, a German dancer and actress, who met Himanshu in London, acted in a one-act play with him titled ‘Shiraz’, which could have inspired the film. She played the Indian princess.  

A scratchy black-and-white print may not appeal to youngsters, but when restored, these films can be very entertaining. I’ve seen audiences in different countries enjoying themselves. My grandfather’s later movies, the talkies, were more Hollywood, but ‘Achhut Kanya’ is beautiful and I loved ‘Kismet’ which I watched as a child before I learned of my Indian heritage.

I believe you visited ‘Kismet’’s hero Ashok Kumar in Mumbai?

Yes, when I was in India many years ago, I asked the concierge of our Bangalore hotel how I could contact Ashok Kumar. He directed me to an actor — he could have been a Kapoor — who on learning that I was Himanshu Rai’s grandson, shared the number with me.

When I called, Ashok Kumar asked me when I was coming. I said, “I can come now” and he replied, “Okay, see you soon.” So, I flew to Mumbai and drove to his Chembur bungalow. He was not in good health, but excited to see me. We chatted, then his daughter (Preeti Ganguly) showed me the acting school she ran at the back of the house. On the next trip, my mother and brothers, Walter and Paul, visited Ashok Kumar too.

Devika Rani and your grandmother were friends. Reportedly, much of the material of the Dietze Family Archive came from her. Have you ever met her?

Unfortunately, no, but after coming across my grandfather’s photograph in the attic and learning about my Indian ancestry from my mother (Nilima Annaliese Dietze), I was in New York on a business trip. By chance I visited the Roerich Art Gallery and spoke to the curator at length about my roots after which he brought up a box with a photograph of Devika Rani on top. It was full of Bombay Talkies documentation which she had sent there — she was married to Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich — when she could not take care of it anymore herself. Over the next few months, I stayed in touch with the curator who eventually delivered several boxes to me in Australia.

Fourteen of the 3,000-plus pieces which make up the Dietze Family Archive are a part of a showcase at an exhibition— ‘A Cinematic Imagination:  Josef Wirsching & The Bombay Talkies’ — in Mumbai till April 17. Seventy-five items were displayed at a government-sponsored exhibition in Melbourne which ran for six months. I want to travel with that to Germany, New Zealand, the US and eventually, bring it to India, maybe even have a live performance.

Why was it so important for you to connect with your Indian heritage?

Himanshu Rai left his first wife, my grandmother, and young daughter behind in Germany and came to India with Devika Rani after they were married to build the Bombay Talkies studio in Mumbai. He died in 1940, before I was even born in 1954. After becoming a grandfather to three-year-old Penny May and Leo who’s one, I’ve realised the love I missed out on growing up. Now, my endeavour is to preserve my grandfather’s legacy.