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For more than five decades, Raghu Rai photographed the country with rare intimacy and clarity
Rich tributes continue to pour in for Raghu Rai, India’s most celebrated photojournalist, following his death at the age of 83.
Rai spent more than five decades documenting the country, capturing moments from political power to everyday life with striking clarity.
From the aftermath of the gas tragedy in central India’s Bhopal to the years of militancy in northern India’s Punjab, which killed thousands in the 1980s, Rai’s images shaped how India saw its most defining events.
His work did not merely record history but shaped how a nation saw it. It helped define modern Indian photojournalism, earning global recognition and influencing generations of photographers.
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Raghu Rai’s photo of Indira Gandhi meeting people during an election campaign in 1977
Rai began his career at The Statesman newspaper in 1966 and later worked as photo editor at India Today and Sunday magazines.
He joined globally recognised photography agency Magnum Photos in 1977 – often seen as one of the highest recognitions in photography – with the support of pioneering French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose work had a lasting influence on him.
Rai’s photographs of former prime minister Indira Gandhi remain among the most enduring visual records of political power in India. He captured her across settings – from charged election campaigns to closed-door Congress party meetings.
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Raghu Rai’s photo of Indira Gandhi attending a meeting of the Congress party in 1980
Rai’s photographs of celebrated figures – such as veteran playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, painter MF Hussain, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and others – have often captured a sense of devotion between art and audience.
Rai’s work during the years of militancy in Punjab during the 1980s remains among his most striking. His portrait of Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale captured a moment heavy with tension and consequence.
Rai often spoke about photography as something far deeper than technique.
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Rai’s photograph of veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar performing at an event in 1981
In one of his interviews, Rai described photography as a form of spiritual engagement with the world, saying: “I meet my god through my camera”.
“Once I pick up my camera, I am driven by the ever-changing energy of life and nature,” he said. “When you have invested mentally, physically, and spiritually in situations and take pictures constantly, it is like investing in a bank of life in which the returns keep getting bigger and the energy keeps you going.”
Rai also spoke about the discipline behind an image – what he described as a kind of sustained practice, rather than quick visual experiments.
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Rai’s photo of Indira Gandhi visiting UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London
In the interview, Rai said his favourite portrait subject was the Dalai Lama, describing the “intensity and spiritual energy” he brings to a frame.
But he stressed that admiration should not shape the image. A portrait, he said, must reflect “the moment, the experience of the person, the energy of the person” as it existed at that time.
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Rai’s portrait of Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Rai as a “creative stalwart” who “captured India’s vibrancy through his lens”. In a post on X, Modi said Rai’s photography showed “extraordinary sensitivity, depth and diversity”, and helped bring people closer to different aspects of life in India.
Photographers and editors have often described Rai’s work as bridging reportage and art, combining immediacy with composition.
His archive now stands as a sustained act of witnessing – a country, its people, and its contradictions – through a lens that remained, above all, deeply human.
