'He was a son and a friend to me'

Asha Bhosle on Gautam Rajadhyaksha

Gautam was putting together a photo-exhibition in Pune, which we all were supposed to attend, including politicians like Uddhav Thackrey. Just a few days ago I spoke to him and he told me that he was a little unwell.
u00a0
But this is an absolute shock to me. He was seven years younger than my son, but he was everything to me; a friend, a guide and even a brother at times. It's impossible to imagine that he is no more.
u00a0
There are very few people in the industry that I shared such a close bond with. He has taken almost every picture of mine that has been printed in papers over the past 25 years.



More than anything what I loved about Gautam was that he valued people and relationships. He had no airs about being such a big photographer.
u00a0
He would take everyone under his wings. There were times when I used to just sit with him and go through his work.

He had the knack of making every person look absolutely out of this world. And I think that was because he was a beautiful person from within which used to reflect in his photographs.

I don't think anyone has captured actors like Rekha, Madhuri and Kajol the way he did. He would never be confined to his space though. He was interested in everything from music to writing to theater.
u00a0
I remember on one hand he used to listen to the Oprah and on the he used to enjoy listening to Marathi songs.
u00a0
I have lost count of the number of times we used to put on Marathi music and chat endlessly for hours together.

He never gave up on life.u00a0 Till the very last minute he had dreams and aspirations to fulfill. He always wanted to write more scripts.
u00a0
He even wanted to open a school of photography for young artists. I wish he could do that. The younger generation could have learnt a lot from him.