Indian Royals

Fifty sovereigns of the subcontinent, staged for the same royal photoshoot.

Fifty sovereigns of the subcontinent — thirty-two kings and eighteen queens spanning over two thousand years of history — staged for an editorial royal photoshoot. Shot in Wes Anderson's signature planimetric frontality: centered, rigorously symmetrical, framed head-to-knees square to camera, with deadpan composure directly into the lens.

The background is the attire itself: the subject's own cloth, colour palette, and era-specific architectural motifs carried flat onto the set behind them, so the sovereign and the setting read as one designed world. No portraits survive for rulers before 1500, so their likenesses and court regalia were reconstructed from ancient coins, temple reliefs, and stone inscriptions, while later dynasties draw from court miniatures and period records.

Kings (32): Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara, Ashoka, Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, Harshavardhana, Pulakeshin II, Mahendravarman I, Narasimhavarman I Mamalla, Rajaraja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I, Prithviraj Chauhan, Rana Sanga, Maharana Pratap, Qutb ud Din Aibak, Iltutmish, Alauddin Khalji, Muhammad bin Tughluq, Krishnadevaraya, Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb Alamgir, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Peshwa Baji Rao I, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Tipu Sultan.

Queens (18): Prabhavatigupta, Sembiyan Mahadevi, Didda, Razia Sultan, Rudramadevi, Rani Abbakka Chowta, Rani Durgavati, Chand Bibi, Nur Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, Jahanara Begum, Rani Mangammal, Maharani Tarabai, Ahilyabai Holkar, Velu Nachiyar, Rani Chennamma, Rani Lakshmibai, Begum Hazrat Mahal.

Direction

"A still from a Wes Anderson film staged as an editorial royal portrait photoshoot. Vertical 3:4 frame. Perfectly centred, rigorously symmetrical, planimetric composition: the subject stands square to the camera in the exact middle of the frame, framed from just above the head down to the knees, arms placed deliberately, a composed deadpan expression, eyes looking straight into the lens. The backdrop is a flat, shallow, hand-built set made from the subject's own attire: the same cloth, colour and motif as the garment, hung or painted flat behind them in clean colour-blocked panels, so figure and background read as one designed palette. The paired props stand on matching plinths at hip height, perfectly mirrored left and right. Soft, even, frontal key light with gentle fill and a faint soft shadow behind the figure. Real human skin with visible pores and fine texture, true fabric weave, the weight and sheen of real gold, pearls and gemstones, historically grounded dress. Shot on medium-format film, 80mm lens at f/8, the whole figure crisp, Kodak Portra 400 colour, fine grain, soft pastel grade. Photographic realism, not a painting, not an illustration, no text or lettering."

CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA

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