Raghu Rai didn’t just photograph India, he invented a way of seeing it

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The audacity of Raghu Rai’s wide-angle lens, the tension he seemed to choreograph at the edges of the frame added a cinematic aside long before cinema caught up with that language.

Updated - April 26, 2026 05:09 pm IST

In Raghu Rai’s own words, photography “for me, is darshan... you have to make yourself available mentally, physically, spiritually to the moment.”

In Raghu Rai’s own words, photography “for me, is darshan... you have to make yourself available mentally, physically, spiritually to the moment.” | Photo Credit: Rohit Chawla

I came to Raghu Rai before I came to photography.

As a young, 18-year-old inconsequential boy shooting for a city magazine, more to fund a relationship than any artistic calling, photography was a means to an end, until his images began to intrude -- in passing at first, then completely. They didn’t just influence what I shot, they altered what I thought a photograph could hold.

Published - April 26, 2026 05:05 pm IST

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