Dishoom!

Images from my recent 'Knockout in SoBo' exhibition.

The ring was dimly lit to create a subterranean feel. Underground lighting, a tightly gathered crowd, many unsure of what to expect, yet excited to be part of something they had only seen in movies. This was Studio No. 9 at the now-defunct Famous Studios in Mahalaxmi, hosting one of the first full-contact Mixed Martial Arts championships that felt as much like a spectacle as a sport in 2011.

Just outside the large studio floor, in rooms lit by antiseptic white fluorescent tube lights, fighters prepared with their coaches and friends. Some were visibly excited, others tense. Soon, they would enter the ring for a South Bombay audience, well-dressed, animated, thrilled, watching fighters from places like Sangli and Haryana step inside and collide for their entertainment.

The Bloodbath Mumbai Loves was the title journalist Aastha Atray Banan gave to her 2011 story on the event for Tehelka Weekly. Aastha spoke to fighters and audience members alike, tracing the excitement, bravado, and fascination surrounding the event. Her reporting documented what people said. What interested me, as a freelance photographer accompanying her on the assignment, was what their faces revealed.

I’ll stop here and let the images carry the rest of the weight.

B.T.S.

The green room.

The Ring.

At the exhibition, I used dyptychs that brought the fighters and the audience face-to-face.

That’s all, folks!

About the Exhibition:
It was organised by Chhavi Bombay, a collective initiative by my photographer friends Aslam, aka bombay ka shana and Fahim, early this December (2025). The central theme of the group exhibition was Women in Wari, which brought together multiple perspectives of the annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, foregrounding women’s presence within the Wari tradition. Alongside this shared body of work, the exhibition presented four individual photographic narratives by Aslam, Fahim, Hanif Tadvi, and the story above by me.

Bombay ka Shana has shared his photographs of Women in Wari here. So have a look.

I hope to share the images from the Women in Wari series soon.