In the brief window after the interview concluded, I stepped into a moment that felt less like a photographic assignment and more like entering a living archive. Lt. R. Madhavan Pillai ji, a centenarian of the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army), carried his stories with a steadiness that no map or document could fully contain. Across the two-day interview shoot commissioned by the Imperial War Museum, where I was handling First Assistant Camera on a commercial project, I witnessed moments that transcended production. When he sang Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja and Shubh Sukh Chain with the pride and authority of someone who lived their meaning, the room shifted from a set to a testament. Only afterwards did his son walk me through the layout of Rangoon’s INA positions, extending the narrative beyond what the camera could capture.

The moment was unplanned yet deeply consequential. His demeanour carried the weight of experience without spectacle, allowing the visual narrative to emerge with clean intent. These portraits leverage minimal intervention, focusing instead on presence, structure, and the quiet authority that only a hundred lived years can produce.

After the project wrapped, I asked for a portrait outside the scope of the assignment simply because the photographer in me refused to leave without honouring the moment. Working swiftly was non-negotiable. His age and health demanded precision, restraint and a setup that had to earn its place without burdening him. Even those few minutes carried a responsibility far greater than the technical constraints. It was a chance to frame someone whose service shaped the very history we often encounter only through books, museums and secondhand memory.

These portraits are not about the photographer’s craft as much as they are about standing witness. They recognise a life that has held its ground through war, nationhood and time itself; a life still generous enough to recount its journey so the next generation may understand what courage once looked like without theatrics.

This series stands as a modest tribute to that moment. A brief exchange. A demanding setup. A rare privilege. A century of service distilled into a face that has already said more than any caption ever could.

Here is a glimpse of the portraits we arrived at, anchored in the intent to frame his presence with precision and due respect.