Remembering Bollywood celebrity photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha today, 16th September, on his birth anniversary. He would have turned 73, had his large, kind-heart, not given way that fateful day in 2011, three days shy of his 61st birthday.
Thanks to his cousin, writer, editor, novelist, Shobhaa De, I had the opportunity to chat with the great Gautam Rajadhyaksha for a feature on his Bollywood portraits for Prestige magazine (syndicated around Asia). Off the record, we spoke at length about my favourite Sridevi and his favourite Madhuri Dixit. What made them similar, what made them unique, how he would cast the two together in a film (a wish many, many film makers had in the early 90s).
His singular ability to make anyone and everyone comfortable, the fact he balanced such gigantic celebrity egos with such elegant ease, that for his long tenure as a film photographer and occasional journalist (he did not only Sridevi's first cover story for Filmfare, he conducted and wrote the entire interview with his impeccable linguistic skills), not one soul has anything negative to say about him. In an industry filled with historical grouse and tu-tu-main-main, he swanned above all in his pristine kurtas and printed shawls. He had a fab sense of humour, but he never betrayed anyone or harmed any soul.
From what little I know of him, and through the power of years of observation, he was indubitably a connoisseur of fine arts, a man of great taste and aesthetics. Be it in his writing, photography, refined proclivity for opera or paintings, the man liked high art in every single way.
When the starlets disrobed for the camera or had a suggestive pose, it was with reference and reverence to renaissance paintings and Greek sculptures as a springboard for an idea. He liked soft lighting and sensuality, when the 90s were breaching good taste and stark reality. There wasn't a hint of vulgarity in the renaissance man. Ask about him and watch Kajol and Madhuri Dixit-Nene tear up, ask about him to his family and hear them reflect with fondness and nostalgia, ask about him to a complete stranger like me and see how we sigh with regret. That one chance to meet in person was taken away by cruel fate. "Honi ko kaun taal sakta hai, poochne waale, bahut milenge..."
The images will live on forever Gautam da; you made mortals into movie stars, the ordinary into the extraordinary. You gave them class, when all they had was sex-appeal, you gave them gravitas, when they were floundering.
My sophomoric dream in youth was to become a film magazine editor in Mumbai and have Gautam da do all my cover shoots. Alas, alas, alas.
Rest in peace Gautam Rajadhyaksha. Although, knowing you, you've requested the angels to sing Pucinni...
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