FRIENDS IN A FRAME

Raghu Rai found in a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson a moment that goes beyond news value
Images come and go but it is the times and moments they capture that remain. For this reason, an image cannot be a classic. It is a contemporary visual representation of the times it freezes. For me, the era of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was a classic period. The leaders’ energy and magic made that era an unforgettable time. And I feel sad that I was too young—a child—in that period to have not been able to capture the two great men.
I had once tried to get their images from the Press Information Bureau for a project I was doing. The PIB has very middle-level photographers and thus I wasn’t expecting to source a particularly great frame of Nehru and Gandhi from there, though I did hope to lay my hands on some interesting historical records. Sadly, they had a couple of leftover pictures but even those ordinary frames could capture the energy and emotion of the two men—those qualities of theirs were that obvious.

The one aspect of Nehru that continues to intrigue everyone today was his relationship with Lady Mountbatten. Perhaps no photographer captured an affectionate moment between Nehru and Mountbatten better than Henri Cartier-Bresson. The picture—which I first saw in 1966—was shot in 1947 or 1948. Nehru and Lord Mountbatten were to attend an important meeting and while the other photographers were busy shooting the meeting, Bresson managed to freeze a very interesting moment. In his picture (which remains one of my favourites) Lord Mountbatten is looking in one direction and wearing a very serious expression. Nehru and Lady Mountbatten, on the other hand, are looking affectionately at each other and laughing in a very childlike manner.
Bresson’s photograph truly reflects the relationship Nehru and Mountbatten shared with each other. Bresson had the ability to look beyond the obvious news value of an event and respond to what he saw; he had the vision and the understanding to do so.

I admire the works of many photographers, especially Bresson—he introduced me to Magnum Photos, which is a prestige for any photographer. But no picture can inspire me when I do my work. When I take a picture, nothing exists for me other than what I see. If I were to carry the baggage of a beautiful or powerful picture in my mind, I wouldn’t be able to respond spontaneously or instinctively to what I see and thus not able to produce a unique or different picture. I can’t let a picture — no matter how great it be — control my mind and programme my art.

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