Remembering Rajiv Gandhi: A selection of photos taken by him show how he loved photography

Behind the camera

He studied engineering but opted to become a pilot and flew Indian Airlines planes; he loved travelling, driving and had a passion for photography. News photographers who were assigned to cover the Prime Minister’s political rallies would sometimes get invited to accompany the PM on his helicopter. On one occasion a particular favourite of his from the ABP stable received an impromptu offer to fly with the PM to the NE with the assurance that he would be flown back to Calcutta in the evening. He was a natural, gushed the photographer on his return, ‘a photographer’s delight’. He not only delighted in taking photographs, he also took great interest in the lens and technical aspects of photography. And he didn’t mind if photographers caught him at an odd moment.

A book of his photographs, ‘Rajiv’s World’ with a foreword by Ms Sonia Gandhi, was brought out in 1995. The selection of photographs taken by the late Prime Minister here are from the archives at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.