Gautam Rajadhyaksha was a fashion photographer and writer from Mumbai, Maharashtra; belonging to the Maharashtrian Saraswat Brahmin family. He was one of India`s most popular celebrity portraitists, and had photographed most of the superstars of bollywood. Rajadhyaksha decided to take up the photography when he could not get a photographer on Sundays to click stars that he interviewed for Celebrity magazine.

Early Life of Gautam Rajadhyaksha
Gautam Rajadhyaksha, born on September 16, 1950, became one of the leading fashion photographers of the time. He did his schooling from St. Xavier`s High School, Fort. Later he completed his graduation in Chemistry from St. Xavier`s College, Mumbai. He was also a professor for 2 years in the college. He also achieved a diploma in advertising and public relations. In 1974, Gautam Rajadhyaksha joined Lintas India Ltd, a leading advertising agency, in the photo services department. He was promoted to being the head of the department, during his 15 year career.

Career of Gautam Rajadhyaksha
Actresses Shabana Azmi and Shobha De, his cousin, encouraged Rajadhyaksha to take up photography. His first encounter with fashion photography happened 1980, when he happen to shoot pictures of actress Shabana Azmi (a college mate), Tina Munim and Jackie Shroff, and his passion for portraiture photography gradually increased. Soon, he left his advertising job in 1987 and took up commercial photography full-time, thus started doing product campaigns, media assignments and fashion portfolios.

Rajadhyaksha started writing for Shobha De`s magazine titled Celebrity, while he was still emplyed with Lintas. Eventually he started taking photos for his articles and his work gather considerable attention. This turned him to a much appreciated glamour photographer. He also worked with other magazines like Cineblitz, Stardust, Filmfare and The Illustrated Weekly. In 1989, Asha Bhosle set up an exhibition for Rajyadhyaksha in Pune. It was with a great deal of concern that he went ahead with it. The exhibition`s success gave him some confidence.

Gautam Rajadhyaksha has put all his pictures together in a book called Faces. The book with pictures of the biggest names in Bollywood has been spliced together with anecdotes, describing what happened when photographing them or while just chatting with them. As a film photographer, he is credited for discovering glamour faces like Tina Munim, Salman Khan and Indian Supermodel Sheetal Mallar. Gautam Rajadhyaksha was also the editor edits Marathi entertainment fortnightly, Chanderi and wrote column, Manas Chitra, in leading Marathi news daily. In 2000, he held his first ever photo-exhibition in Pune showcasing, his 20 years as a photography career. His exhibitions have been held in Pune, Goa and Kolhapur attracted huge crowds and his exhibitions in San Francisco, London, Birmingham and Dubai, have opened to appreciative crowds. In 1992, Gautam Rajadhyaksha wrote his first screenplay, for the film, Bekhudi, which launched actress Kajol`s career and his second, Anjaam presented, Madhuri Dixit with a challenging role. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2007 movie, Sakhi.

Death of Gautam Rajadhyaksha
On September 13th, 2011, Gautam Rajadhyaksha died from an apparent heart attack. He expired in the morning, 3 days prior to his 61st birthday.

Gautam Rajadhyaksha was a scholar and collector of opera recordings and has held several talk shows on the subject.

Filmography of Gautam Rajadhyaksha

Movie stills by Gautam Rajadhyaksha-