Veteran photographer and former assistant director of Information and Public Relations Department D. Sridhar Naidu died on Sunday afternoon at his Shamirpet residence.
He was 90 years old and leaves behind two daughters and four sons. Last rites will be performed on Monday. Sridhar Naidu took to photography at a young age and joined the Information Department of Hyderabad Government after the ‘police action’ in 1948.
In his long career of more than four decades, he was witness to the history in the making and documented the freedom struggle in Telangana, formation of Andhra Pradesh, foundation stone laying of Pochampad, Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects by Jawaharlal Nehru, Vinobha Bhave’s tour and President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy’s banquet to US president Jimmy Carter in New Delhi. His personal relationship with Neelam Sanjiva Reddy could be seen from the fact that he was said to be the only photographer to be allowed in the banquet hosted for Jimmy Carter.
Sridhar Naidu covered the freedom struggle working with great leaders like Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, Pandit Narendraji, Swami Ramananda Tirtha and P.V. Narasimha Rao. The Sultan Bazar police had also arrested him along with Burgula. For his role, he was recognised a freedom fighter. He built up a good personal rapport with Burgula, the first elected Chief Minister of Hyderabad State and later a number of Chief Ministers and Governors of Andhra Pradesh.
The most acclaimed of his contributions was the exclusive photograph of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ravenously eating roasted corn (makka butta) at Fateh Maidan Club. Sridhar Naidu was felicitated by the veteran journalists association recently. The associations condoled his death and described him as a photographer par excellence.
