“India”, The 2027 Pirelli Calendar, presented in New Delhi

The 2027 Pirelli Calendar, with India as its protagonist, was presented in New Delhi. To portray a country shaped by age-old traditions and by a strong drive towards the future, the project – now in its 53rd edition – brings together, for the first time in its history, three photographers offering different perspectives on the country. (And if you wonder why it is in this section, remember that The Pirelli Calendar, known as “The Cal”, is an exclusive, limited-edition annual publication created by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli, since 1964.)

More about TheCal 2027 – https://pirellicalendar.pirelli.com/ 
Shot between May and September, the 2027 Pirelli Calendar, presented as a box set with two separate pockets, contains a total of 36 photographs: 18 by Sølve Sundsbø and 18 from Raghu and Avani Rai’s project. 

The photographers…. 

The vision of Sølve Sundsbø, who also shot the 2026 edition, is joined by that of Raghu Rai, the master of Indian photography who passed away in April 2026, and of his daughter Avani Rai, who took up her father’s legacy and carried the project forward after his death. The result is a dialogue that tells a story of people and places, beauty, memory and the present day.

The images…

Raghu Rai photographed India from 1965 onwards, documenting its public and private life for more than sixty years. For the 2027 Pirelli Calendar, he had chosen to pair images from his own archive with faces of contemporary India. Rai worked on the project until his death in April 2026; afterwards, his daughter Avani chose to continue his work, following a deeply personal approach. 

Avani Rai took Raghu’s archive photographs, both published and unpublished, out of the studio and placed them back in the streets of Delhi and Mumbai, alongside the people who live in those places today. People, architecture, movement, light and rituals thus enter the photograph, while the cities become a living presence within the images. “My father belonged to the street. That’s why I took the idea he was working on and brought it back to the streets, among the people he had photographed all his life”, says Avani. “I take a step back, spiritually and literally. I stand behind him” , she explains. 

Sølve Sundsbø portrayed nine women with ties to India, between Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur and Ajabgarh, in Rajasthan. “For me, the key to the Calendar is the people” , he says. “We wanted to portray a variety of characters: there are poets, musicians, architects, models and actresses ”. The cast includes actresses Aditi Rao Hydari and Avantika Vandanapu; actress and producer Freida Pinto;musician and composer Anoushka Shankar; poet and performer Rupi Kaur; models Lakshmi Menon and Bhavitha Mandava; author, producer and television host Padma Lakshmi. 

Photography: (c) Pirelli TheCal 2027