Dhruv Malhotra in The Morning News:
India's prevailing image is one of noisy animation—development, overcrowding, and horrible traffic. In comparison, Dhruv Malhotra's night-scapes of urban India capture the life, or lack thereof, that darkness conceals.
The Morning News: Who are the sleepers?
Dhruv Malhotra: The sleeping human figure, in the context of the larger urban landscape surrounding it, is the metaphor I use to address my own self and the world around me. Usually intentionally obscured, the sleepers are the people in my images who choose to sleep outdoors, for a variety of reasons, and are often guards, migrants, and construction workers, amongst others. The specific person doesn’t much concern me, as my intention is to use the human figure as a metaphor and a point to explore my concerns about the urban landscape.
TMN: If sleepers awaken while you’re photographing, how do you react?
DM: Usually I just speak to them. Some are a bit surprised at being photographed sleeping, but most go right back to sleep after minimal persuasion, once their sense of threat and alarm is allayed.Many of these moments of awakening have translated onto film as ghostly shapes emerging from sleeping bodies—moments of awakening glimpsed along with the dormant potential of the sleeper.
More here.