An evening ahead of the unveiling of the 2027 Pirelli Calendar brought India’s many cultural layers into focus at Safdarjung Tomb, celebrating the country’s diversity through photography, art and India-Italy cultural tiesIndia’s many layers came alive at Safdarjung Tomb on Thursday evening. Around 30,000 lights illuminated the monument and its gardens. The event, held on the eve of the unveiling of the 2027 Pirelli Calendar, India, Beyond a Single Gaze, offered a glimpse into the project’s central idea: a country whose cultural expressions, artistic traditions and contrasting realities defy a single frame.
Against the backdrop of Safdarjung Tomb, photographer Avani Rai joined Norwegian collaborator Sølve Sundsbø to celebrate their work for the 2027 Pirelli Calendar, which carries forward her father Raghu Rai’s vision
The evening also celebrated India-Italy cultural ties, with dignitaries reflecting on India’s diversity, enduring appeal and the complexities of capturing its many facets through a single lens.
Around 30,000 lights illuminated the monument and its gardens.
The Cal and its very Indian editionThe calendar’s 53rd edition, India, Beyond a Single Gaze, brings together the vision of the late Raghu Rai, which was carried forward by his daughter, photographer Avani Rai, and the work of Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø. “The theme of the calendar is very appropriate because you cannot capture India in a single image. You are inevitably confronted with millennia-old traditions of an ancient civilisation with amazing rapid growth, and so, this calendar features the forts of Rajasthan, the narrow streets of Old Delhi and the skyscrapers of Mumbai,” said Italian ambassador Antonio Bartoli.
Antonio Bartoli, Ambassador of Italy, with Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Culture and Tourism
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Minister of Culture and Tourism, described the evening as a fitting beginning to the India-Italy Year of Culture. “The calendar is a tribute to Raghu Rai. In India, it is said that to experience India, one lifetime is not even enough. You have to be born again and again, and this is the first time for Pirelli,” he said.
Marco Tronchetti Provera
This project taught me how to celebrate my father: Avani Rai“I have been finding my father in places today – thinking to myself, ‘yahaan khade honge, yahaan toh mujhe sunn rahe honge, yahaan stage pe thay’. I have been feeling his presence; I could sense him,” said Avani Rai, who got a little emotional on stage as she remembered him. The project was both a way to engage with India’s many layers and an opportunity to celebrate her father’s life and work. Speaking about how he viewed the country, she recalled, “My father would say: ‘India has multiple universes existing at once, and I cannot capture them all. I have to come back’.”Recalling his advice to her, she said, “You know what he did for me in this project, which I know is a present to me? This project taught me how to celebrate him. He used to say, ‘Rona-dhona nahin karte, zindagi mein drama nahin karte hain. Jo seekhna hai seekho, aur aage badho’. I’m always with you. Just the night before, he came in my dream, and he threw flowers at everybody. So I have these spiritual moments where I’m like, ‘you cannot mourn a life so well lived’.”
Avani Rai and Gurmeet Sangha Rai
Jim Sarbh, Rajeev Sethi and Seetu Kohli
‘A testament to the importance of India in Italy’s perception’Calling The Cal a cultural icon, Ambassador Bartoli said, “The calendar has been around for more than 60 years now, since it was first published in 1964. It has become a cultural icon, a global icon, and is a bit in the spirit of The Renaissance. The first-ever calendar dedicated to India is a testament to the increasing importance of India in Italy’s perception and in the perception of the world.” He also acknowledged the contribution of both photographers and said, “This is thanks to the distinctive perspective of Sølve Sundsbø and, of course, the family that represents photography in India – Raghu Rai, who is dear to all of us, and Avani, who has carried forward her father’s brilliant idea and presented it with great emotion.”
Benedetto Vigna; Ester and Antonio Bardoli
May-Elin Stener, Ambassador of Norway, with her husband Espen Aasen
The calendar faces at the launchFor the calendar, Raghu Rai had imagined bringing images from his archive into dialogue with contemporary India. After he passed away, his daughter Avani took up his idea and chose to shoot on the streets of Old Delhi. Sundsbø, on the other hand, decided to focus on nine women whom he photographed across Rajasthan – actresses Aditi Rao Hydari, Avantika Vandanapu, and Freida Pinto, musician Anoushka Shankar, poet Rupi Kaur, models Lakshmi Menon and Bhavitha Mandava, author and presenter Padma Lakshmi and Avani herself. Some of the calendar’s featured muses were present at its India launch on October 23, 2026.
Sølve Sundsbø with-Aditi Rao Hydari, Marco Tronchetti Provera, Freida Pinto and Avani Rai
