Prabuddha painted portraits with his lens

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The doyen of fashion photography in India, Prabuddha Dasgupta, may be no more but his work lives on. Understanding a woman has always been considered rough terrain. Capturing her myriad moods in the most natural manner takes much more than just skill.

So, it would be no exaggeration to say that Prabuddha Dasgupta — one of the most celebrated names in the world of fashion photography, who passed away recently — was a genius with the camera. Dasgupta is best known for the publication of a collection of portraits and nudes of urban Indian women called ‘Women’ in 1996, that raised the accepted limits of Indian aesthetics, both morally and creatively.
“At a time when talking about sex was a taboo, he shot for a condom commercial so aesthetically that it went down in the annales of history. It had such an organic and earthy feel. Prabuddha Dasgupta was a master at blending the elements. He was easy to work with,” said Pooja Bedi. She worked with him for the famous Kamasutra condom advertisement in the early 90s.
Prabuddha Dasgupta was a self-taught photographer, who grew up in the cultural chaos of post-colonial India. From the late 90s he worked on a variety of photographic projects alternating between commissioned and artistic work.
Most of Dasgupta’s works were like paintings in black and white. After his first published work, he came up with two other books Ladakh in 2000 and Edge of Faith in 2009.
“His work was simple and devoid of technical gimmicks. I found deep honesty in the images that he created with the simplest of photography gear. These works have endured over time and are unaffected by the ‘fads and trends’ that affect the arts. Unfortunately, I had limited contact with him,” said Atul Kasbekar.
Dasgupta’s work has been exhibited internationally, both in solo and group shows, and published in Indian, French, English, Italian and American magazines. He was the recipient of many grants and awards, including the Yves Saint Laurent grant for photography in1991, and his work is in the collections of many individuals and institutions, like the Museo Ken Damy, Brescia, Italy and Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy.
As his one time muse, Lara Dutta tweeted, “He shot me for the Femina cover right after I won the Miss India title. It was every woman’s dream to be shot by him. No one captured a woman like him.”
With him goes an era that changed and defined fashion photography for India.