The 12th of August 2012, was a sad day for artists and art connoisseurs alike, as Prabuddha Dasgupta took his last few breaths and bid adieu to the world he had once captured beautifully through his camera lens. To call him a mere fashion photographer would be robbing him of his true credentials, that as an endorser and enabler of the human condition, taking photographs "where people could be people" and not cardboard cutouts of popular notions of perfection. I was fortunate enough to be witness to an evening kept in his honour where people(family, friends and people whose lives he had touched) spoke about him and paid their last respect. It was only fitting that the memorial was kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi as Prabuddha had spent a better part of his youth living here, as his father was a sculptor who resided in the Gallery premises. Along with riveting speeches by the likes of Mira Nair, the night ended with a montage of Prabuddha's iconic photographs whose impact was further heightened by Leonard Cohen's haunting music. The evening also saw Prabuddha's daughters singing a heartfelt rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine". Prabuddha wanted his photographs to be "a long string of images (that were) held together with grace", and seeing the legacy he leaves behind, I can safely say that he's more than achieved that. They say that the good, die young. I couldn't agree more. R.I.P.
Photographs courtesy: prabuddhadasgupta.com
