Septuagenarian Ashok Prabhakar sits in front of a brightly lit table, clutching a magnifying glass with one hand and pliers with the other. He patiently examines the circuits, shutter and the minute screws in the camera. Nothing can distract him from the device. One blink and you could miss the “problem area” in the camera.

“I have spent my life repairing cameras. I was twelve years old when I repaired the first camera,” said Ashok, who prefers to be called by his late father’s name Prabhakar.

His wife Rekha has seen Ashok’s growth – from a small bench on D.N. Road in Mumbai to an air-conditioned repair shop. “No one can teach you how to repair cameras. It is an art learnt with experience. Even today there is no institute that can teach you how to repair cameras,” said Rekha.

Ashok’s love for cameras inspired him to create his own camera under the brand name “Star Lite” in 1994. Although there were peers manufacturing prototypes , Ashok claims his was “the first motorised Indian camera.” There models cost between Rs 1,400 and Rs 2,500.

Talking about his early days, a nostalgia-struck Ashok recalled his well wishers’ apprehension about the jinx of unsuccessful camera manufacturers. “People warned me not to create a camera. At that time, there were stories of how other individual camera manufacturers had committed suicide,” said Ashok, stating that there was no particular reason for the suicide. “Although Star Lite is not available now, by God’s grace we are still alive,” he adds.

Ashok can repair any kind of camera – right from dental cameras to those used by the railways and new-age digital cameras. “Many celebrities and even photographers from newspapers come to us with their high-end cameras,” said Rekha, who credits this to the reputation her husband and father-in-law have built.

Mastering repairs of some of the toughest cameras such a Contaflex and Leica has given Ashok an uncanny prowess.

Experiences from numerous foreign visits to workshops conducted by large international camera brands have added to his expertise.

Apart from being an entrepreneur, Ashok has been among the first few in India to have obtained a repair centre authorisation from companies such as Canon , Pentax and Minolta. Although he has worked with cameras for decades, the glamour associated with photography has never lured him. “I have taken photographs but never thought of making it a profession. My first love will always be repairing,” he said. His son has been named after his father, Prabhakar. The junior is now learning the tricks of the trade so that he can carry the ‘Prabhakar’ legacy forward.

After a long day at his workshop, Ashok finally blinks, looking forward to the next set of challenges that the day ahead will bring him.

priya.s@thehindu.co.in

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