“At no given time am I without a camera,” asserts Raghu Rai, one of India’s most important photographers, whose work is now the focus of a significant exhibit at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi. At the age of 81, Rai has been capturing life through lenses for over half a century—beginning at the age of 23 when his elder brother handed him his first camera, setting him on the path to become a renowned photojournalist and editor known for immortalizing the soul of the Indian landscape.
“I was never just a photographer on assignment. When I was working with The Statesman and later with India Today, even though I was sent to cover specific stories, I would document the entire journey. My camera was my constant companion, whether on a plane, a train, in a taxi or even a bullock cart, I was always photographing the people and the landscape of life,” Rai shares with an evocative nostalgia. Over 250 black-and-white striking images, reflecting the formative years of his career from 1965 to 2005, are currently on display—each a testament to Rai’s prodigious talent.
Raghu Rai’s exhibition, poignantly named ‘A Thousand Lives’, serves as a salute to the multifaceted spirit of India and the impassioned sojourn of a photographer who has lived a thousand lives in the pursuit of its dynamic story. The diversity of India is epitomized: moments of tranquility are set against the backdrop of protest, the sacred meets the ordinary, and the mesmerizing landscapes contrast with the stark realities of wealth, power, and poverty. Rai’s photographs, often set against the political milieu of Delhi where he resides, are handled with an intimacy that makes the powerful appear almost vulnerable.
His portraits of political figures, including the likes of Indira Gandhi and her adversary, Jayaprakash Narayan or “JP”, are hung in adjacent rooms, encapsulating their human fragility. It is in these images that Gandhi’s austere facade gives way to vulnerability—depicted in a simple wave goodbye to her grandchildren or a moment of solitude prior to a major speech. Likewise, JP is immortalized as the moral compass of the nation, shown both in isolation and surrounded by throngs of supporters until he passed away in 1979—an image poignantly caught with his body encircled by political giants of the time like Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Moving beyond the realm of politics, Rai’s lens has also captured the essence of spiritual leaders—their profound impact shaping his own perspective. The Dalai Lama is seen in casual repose, enjoying a meal or playfully engaging with a cat in Dharamshala, while photographs of Mother Teresa highlight the profound dedication of a life devoted to service.
Rai’s endeavor to document the world around him led him on a journey far greater than the political corridors of power, immersing him into the villages and urban sprawls across the length and breadth of India, from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. His lens focused on ordinary people—the real soul of the nation—bringing out the extraordinary in everyday lives. His dedication brought dignity to beggars, shop owners, tailors, taxi drivers, soldiers, and even animals inhabiting the streets in harmonious coexistence with humans.
Despite the plethora of colors in the subcontinent, Rai’s work primarily remained in black-and-white up until the ’90s, attributing this choice to the fact that most Indian media publications were printed in monochrome. However, as time evolved, so did his equipment—from Nikon to the Fuji GFX—in step with the digital revolution, affording him the flexibility to photograph in any situation, converting his images from color to black-and-white when the occasion called for it.
Rai’s photographs don’t merely capture images; they encapsulate an age teetering on the cusp of modernity and liberalization. His reflections on India from decades past evoke a sense of poetic reality that he feels has now been bulldozed by the commercialization of almost everything, including politics. Yet the pace of change has done little to dampen his commitment.
In this exhibition, one thing becomes indisputably clear: each photograph is as much a portrayal of Rai as it is of his subjects; he is an indelible part of the narrative—each frame a piece of his heart and spirit. ‘A Thousand Lives: Photographs from 1965-2005’ will be on view till April 30 at KNMA. The snapshots, as diverse as India itself, continue to resonate with the heartbeat of the nation that Raghu Rai so distinctly captures in his eternal frames.
