Ace photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha dead

Mumbai, Sep 13 Ace portrait photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha passed away early Tuesday following a massive heart attack, family sources said. He was 61.

Rajadhyaksha's funeral will be held Tuesday evening.

'Gautam Rajadhyaksha's funeral will take place at 5 p.m. at Mumbai's Chandanwadi Crematorium,' tweeted author Shobha De, his cousin.

De had earlier tweeted: 'My darling Gautam Rajadhyaksha no more. Saddened beyond belief. Farewell confidante-cousin. Thank you for your generous love and soft focus memories.'

De is his only immediate family member as Rajadhyaksha was not married.

Rajadhyaksha was popular amongst all film personalities and worked on portraits of almost all the leading stars of Indian film industry.

Rajadhyaksha's glamorous photo-shoots helped propel many actors, including Madhuri Dixit, to stardom. He also mentored many budding photographers.

A chemistry graduate from Mumbai's St Xavier's College, Rajadhyaksha taught there for two years, following which he joined the photo services department of leading advertising agency Lintas in 1974 and eventually became the departmental head.

What started as a hobby soon became a profession for Rajadhyaksha. During his stint at Lintas, he participated in the creation of milestone advertising campaigns, while continuing his childhood passion of photography during the weekends.

His first encounter with fashion photography was in 1980, when he happened to shoot pictures of actress Shabana Azmi (a college mate), Tina Munim and Jackie Shroff and after that there was no looking back.

He left his advertising job in 1987 and took up commercial photography full-time, and soon started doing product campaigns, media assignments and fashion portfolios.

Rajadhyaksha was a keen collector of opera recordings and has held several talk shows on the subject. He was also involved with projects concerning Western and Indian Classical music.