Photos: On Raghu Rai’s 75th birthday, iconic photographs of India

On iconic lensman Raghu Rai's 75th birthday, a selection of photographs from his journey documenting India's political and cultural landscape.

Updated on: Dec 18, 2017 1:39 PM IST

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Indira Gandhi at a Congress party session in Delhi,1967. “Reluctant, diffident and unsure is how I remember Indira Gandhi when she first became Prime Minister in 1966,” wrote Raghu Rai of their first encounter. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Evening prayer Jama Masjid, Delhi, 1982. Rai was drawn to the grandeur of monuments, even from a distance. His book on the Taj Mahal is a comprehensive look at life within the complex as well as outside it, with a direct and indirect visual reference to the monument in every image, much like this composition. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Refugee from Bangladesh,1971. With the intervention of the Indian Armed Forces in December 1971, a twelve-day war between India and Pakistan ended with the birth of the independent nation of Bangladesh. Rai documented the plight of the refugees during the war. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Among the Goddesses, Kolkata, 1991. Rai photographed Kolkata extensively, this image being the cover of an early edition of his book on the city. “It is the cover photograph that is perhaps the most evocative: the goddess, the cow and the woman under the peepul tree, a combination of mythical proportions silhouetted by a quiet river and an industrial skyline,” wrote Rajeev Sethi of the book. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Among the sparrows, Delhi, 1968. Rai liked the simple oddities in composition, often reflected in portraits of subjects that were never in the eye of mainstream news and politics. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Wheat Thrashing, Humayun’s Tomb Delhi, 1966. On the occasion of Rai’s 75th birthday, his daughter Avani Rai’s documentary feature, ‘Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait’ had its world premiere in the capital. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Dockyard, Kolkata, 1990, where the dry docks catered to the diverse repair and maintenance needs of the vessels calling on the Eastern Ports of India. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Commuters at Churchgate Railway Station, Mumbai 1996. Interestingly, nothing seems to have changed even in 2017 as local trains still carry the weight of the city’s commuter traffic. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)

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Traffic at Chawri Bazar, Delhi,1965. A different kind of business at work, this is an iconic photograph of old Delhi, from a time that cars and two wheelers were far from common--a phenomenon that is unimaginable today. (Raghu Rai / Magnum Photos)