Raghu Rai, Legendary Indian Photographer, Dies at 83
Raghu Rai, Legendary Indian Photographer, Dies at 83
Renowned photographer Raghu Rai passes away in Delhi at 83 after a battle with cancer, leaving behind a monumental legacy in Indian imagery.
Raghu Rai, one of India’s most renowned photographers, died at a private hospital in Delhi on Sunday. He was 83. His family said he had been battling cancer for the past two years, with prostate cancer first diagnosed two years ago, followed by spread to the stomach and brain, alongside age-related health issues. Rai’s career spanned more than five decades, during which he chronicled India’s people, culture and moments with a lens that became synonymous with the country’s visual memory.
Born in 1942 in Jhang, Punjab (then British India), Rai learned photography in the 1960s and began his professional journey with The Statesman in New Delhi in 1965. He covered a wide range of national events and, in 1968, visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram during a period when The Beatles were there. In 1976, he moved to the weekly magazine Sunday as a picture editor, and a year later he was invited to join Magnum Photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Rai left Sunday in 1980 and later joined India Today, where he served as picture editor and photographer.
Rai documented the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster and later developed a long-term project on its impact, writing Exposure: A Corporate Crime on it. Over his career, he published more than 18 books on India’s people, culture and cities, including Raghu Rai’s India: Reflections in Colour and Reflections in Black and White. His photographs appeared in major international outlets such as Time, Life, The New York Times, Newsweek and The New Yorker. He was honored with the Padma Shri in 1972 for his coverage of the Bangladesh War and later received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Tributes poured in from across the country; leaders and fellow photographers lauded Rai as a towering figure whose work captured the nation’s essence and its evolving story. His lens stood as a historical record of India—from its leaders to everyday citizens—executing a quiet, powerful protest against forgetfulness. Raghu Rai’s legacy endures through his vast body of work and the countless photographers he inspired along the way.
