Photographer Avani Rai knows the weight of following in a legendary photographer's footsteps. As the daughter of Indian photographer master Raghu Rai, who died in April, she faced the unique challenge of completing her father's work for the Pirelli Calendar 2027 – a project that became both a creative collaboration and a personal journey.
Known for her distinctive approach to photography, Avani Rai found herself in a project shaped by her father's decades-long relationship with India. Rather than attempting to recreate his perspective, she discovered a new way to connect with his vision, honored to step in and realize her father’s intentions for the series.
In an exclusive interview, Avani Rai explains what it was like to photograph India alongside her father's vision, why she believes "imitation would make you a lesser version," and how stepping into his gaze made her discover another way of seeing.
Three pairs of eyes on India
For the first time in the Cal™’s history, the Pirelli Calendar 2027 brings together multiple photographic voices, featuring Sølve Sundsbø and Raghu Rai. However, three pairs of eyes ultimately shaped the project as Avani Rai stepped in to complete her father's work.
"India is so vast that no amount of eyes are enough, because in the same space things happen all at once," she explains.
"It's very interesting to have three pairs of eyes on India, because there's an interaction, and then a dialogue begins. Everyone's storytelling ways are so different, and the dialogue becomes interesting – especially as I was interacting with my father."
The Pirelli Calendar 2027 is a collection shaped by different perspectives, capturing the many sides of India.
"I would see another world"
When asked what she discovered about the way Raghu Rai saw India, Avani Rai reflected on photographing alongside him and looking through his camera.
"I would quickly take his camera and see what he photographed, then look at my own work. I've seen another world," she says.
"What was exciting was that we're all capable of accessing that other world."
For Avani Rai, honoring her father's vision did not mean recreating his photographs. His work was shaped by his own relationship with people and places, and she realized that the only way to continue that connection was by approaching India through her own perspective.
"It's not like I'm trying to photograph like him, because in order to photograph like him, I have to be who I was being – me – and I was interacting with him."
She adds: "Imitation would make you a lesser version of something already done."
"I felt very close to my father"
Looking back at the project, Avani Rai describes the experience as both a responsibility and a deeply personal connection.
"It's a lot of responsibility on my shoulders," she says.
"But I felt very close to my father doing this. Connected with him. That's the feeling."
That connection became one of the defining parts of the project, allowing Avani Rai to continue a conversation with her father through photography.
"The work my father created for Pirelli was a tribute to India – bringing together his lifelong vision with a more contemporary expression of its people and diversity, something he was always deeply drawn to."
"I cannot bear the thought of it remaining unrealised. Bringing it to life feels deeply personal, as if I am stepping into his gaze and the way he saw India through his camera."
Avani Rai adds, "Photography was his gift to me – not just as a craft, but as a way of seeing – and in that we found a quiet, profound connection.
"Carrying this forward feels like a way of staying close to him, of keeping a part of him alive within me."
Waiting for the image
For Avani Rai, photography is built around patience – allowing moments to develop rather than forcing them to happen.
"When you are waiting for the image, I feel like in that moment when you take a picture, you think you have taken it, and yet there is more," she says.
"There's always more. It depends on how much you're ready to wait."
Through the Pirelli Calendar 2027, Avani Rai continues her father's photographic journey, honoring Raghu Rai's way of seeing, while following her own.
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