Nemai Ghosh, Ray’s official still photographer, passes away

Veteran photographer Nemai Ghosh, also Satyajit Ray’s official still photographer for 25 years, breathed his last in Kolkata on Wednesday at the age of 86.

Nemai Ghosh’s association with Ray started during ‘

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

’ (1969). He went on to be the master filmmaker’s on-set photographer till ‘Agantuk’ (1991). Besides capturing iconic impressions of legendary actors like

Utpal Datta

, Sharmila Tagore and Smita Patil, Nemai Ghosh was best known as a noted chronicler of Bengal’s theatre history. He also ventured his cameraworks extensively in documenting tribal life across India.

The veteran lensman wrote the books ‘Dramatic Moments: Photographs’ and ‘Memories of Calcutta Theatre from the Sixties to the Nineties’, ‘The World on a Canvas’ and ‘Manik Da: Memories of Satyajit Ray’. He had also served as a jury member for the National Film Awards in 2007 and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 for his extraordinary achievements. In 2014, his photobook ‘Kolkata’ was published with a foreword by none other than Amitabh Bachchan.