Shoot at sight

The madness to go on is what explains Raghu Raghu’s stupendous success and mind-boggling vision, says Nonika Singh in a chat with the one-click photographer


As Bangladesh is all set to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Rai, who was witness to its
creation, recently digitalised some of the unused photos

Raghu Rai ... India’s most celebrated lensman! Yet another interview with the man about whom much has been written, and who has himself said enough about his works and creativity. Now what more insights can be gained into him? But with Rai, nothing is the same or predictable. Why even the mundane transcends into sublime as he possesses the uncanny ability to not only sense the extraordinary in the ordinary but also to enthuse a new life into oft-repeated questions and curiosities.

So friend and noted artist Jatin Das might have been flummoxed by Rai’s query in the programme "In conversation with an artist" as to why he has been painting for the past 40 years. But Rai would have given a thousand reasons as to why he has stuck to photography for more than 45 years. And one of the simple reasons he gives is "Zindagi roke nahi rukti". "I look back and I realise nothing is same, nature is ever changing," he says.

That’s why each time he is tempted to record it all over again to make it relevant to today’s sensitivity. When he revisits places like Mumbai and Varanasi, on which he has brought out books, he discovers fresh vistas.

It’s this marvel of life, of multi-splendour India that makes him unstoppable, insatiable and ever restless. So much so that even today he wakes up in the middle of the night, excited by new ideas and visions.

Right now, he is working on several projects and updates us on the one on Bangladesh. As the nation, which was formed in 1971, is all set to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Rai, who was witness to its creation as a photojournalist, is ready to chronicle it all for us.

He reminisces, "Back then, I had been working for a national daily as a photographer. Some of the photographs were used but recently I stumbled upon the negatives. God bless digital technology, I could retrieve many images."

The net result is a powerful statement that has found commendation not only from his counterparts in Bangladesh but also foreign photographers.

Being a photojournalist, he confesses, did put him in a unique privileged position. He shares, "I could fly in a Jaguar, MiG and be inside a submarine only because of my vocation. Besides, a range of journalistic assignments: from fashions shows to political meetings widened my perspective."

Add to it, his unquenchable desire to go beyond, to seek more and more and he finds what others fail to notice. And then, when others cast aspersions such as "He must have stage managed it, manipulated it", he laughs, "During my exhibition on trees at Kolkata, some contemporaries whispered, he must have used photoshop it".

To them and others, he says, "Believe me, I might use greater exposure but I am a one-click photographer". Not that he is against experimentation. "As long as you offer a new vision and experience to the viewers, any tool that you employ in its making is fine."

So why has he refrained from mixing photography with other mediums? More so, in times when photography is being increasingly used in other art forms. He replies, "For me, the purpose of photography that records history is very special and I don’t want to lose sight of it".

That is why he has not toyed with video or filmmaking which he agrees can unravel many things at one time but "nothing can distil the intensity of truth with greater intensity as a photograph can."

Of course, not all pictures have the same energy, not all moments become iconic images. But after decades of photography, it does bring you closer to God. So in clouds, in trees, in every particle, he can sense and discern the presence of God. Faith moves him, more so at the Golden Temple on which he, along with his wife conservation architect Gurmeet Rai, is producing a book.

So how is it working with wife? He smiles, "She is a tough Sardarni and dictates terms. I have no option but to put up with her goondagardi." On a serious note, he reveals how she had worked hard on the proposal to get Unesco heritage status for the Golden Temple, which was later dropped. He adds, "I work instinctively and she has done so much research. Together it works well."

Next on the cards is another book on Ellora. With Gurmeet again. So while Raghu Rai might be in for some more goondagardi, the world can be assured of many more darshans. The madness to go on and not the adage "nothing succeeds like success" is what explains Raghu’s stupendous success and mind-boggling vision.

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