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| Sridevi, Rakesh Shreshta and director Mukul Anand |
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| Gumrah set: Sridevi - with Rakesh in the background |
Born on October 5, 1956, in Bombay (now Mumbai) to a family of Nepali origin, he was raised in the city which would be synonymous with the film capital of the world. A commerce graduate, he initially worked in a colour lab handling accounts before transitioning to photography. Without formal training or assisting others, he started in the early 1980s with a modest camera, initially doing urgent passport photos and building confidence through persistence and self-taught skills.
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| Neetu Singh |
His breakthrough came after persistently approaching actress Neetu Singh on film sets, eventually shooting her for a magazine cover that launched his career. This led to long-term collaborations with major stars, including Rekha (with whom he worked extensively starting around 1981 and praised for her professionalism, creativity, and technical knowledge of lighting/makeup), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (whom he called one of the most beautiful actresses he photographed), Sridevi, Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Dutt, and many others.
Notable film credits include still photography for Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), 1942: A Love Story (1994), Vaastav: The Reality (1999), and others, often for major productions like Yash Raj Films.
He built a successful career through charm, persistence, and creating comfortable environments for stars.
After the tragic death of his first wife, Jean, in 2009, he significantly slowed down and largely stepped back from active work to support his beloved son Rohan Shrestha’s photography career (avoiding competition for assignments) and focus on family. He has a second son, Rihaan, from his later marriage.
Shrestha is remembered as a self-made industry veteran who documented key eras of Hindi cinema through his lens.
In the west, most photographers recap their portfolio in mighty coffee table books and so far, Shreshta has resisted the temptation to publish his incredible work over the past 40 years. One imagines the sheer volume of negatives and series of images of stars to be monumental; a herculean task awaits. We all live in hope he'll publish a book that's not only a retrospective of his personal musings and muses, but an archive of some of the greatest stars that came and went in the transient space that is Bollywood. Stars shine and fade, supernovas are forever-- Rakesh Shreshta in capturing many celebrities is at risk of being one himself.
My massive archive of Rakesh Shreshta photos are here and here.
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