Sunday, February 6 2005 14:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As he prepares to release his third pictorial tribute to the late Indira Gandhi, India's celebrated lensman Raghu Rai rues that today's politicians no longer enthuse him to click.

"They don't emote... for a photographer it is the expressions more than the looks, that count," says Rai.

However, he feels President Kalam would be interesting to picturize. "He is so alive, and responds to situations immediately."

"There is a breath of fresh air in Rashtrapati Bhavan after a long time... Kalam is a happy-go person and whatever he says is so meaningful," says Rai, winner of many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri.

Laloo Prasad is another person who Rai considers photogenic and worth capturing. "His expressions also dilute very fast and he would be any photographer's delight."

However, he says his favourite subjects have been Mother Teresa and Indira Gandhi. "The Mother had a serene mystical quality about her while Indira Gandhi was a symbol of force and power. The two left an indelible mark on India," he says.

Rai has already published two books each on both of them. The third in the series on the Mother and the former Prime Minister and coming out this month.

"Many of the photos in the new collection have not been used before. They are politically relevant today also," he says adding the book on Indira Gandhi is a journey backwards... India has seen so many Prime Ministers after her but she was a different class.

"The former Prime Minister had grace, dignity and respect for culture. She was also a democrat. Had it not been so, she would not have declared elections immediately after emergency," he says.

The book, a retrospective, also shows how power and energy can transform a person. "When Russian Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin came to India and Indira Gandhi went to receive him at the airport, her hands were shaky and during the two-minute speech, her voice was shivering.

"But when you see the same Indira Gandhi shaking hands with Brezhnev, it was firm and clearly showed the power... she was a world leader by then," he says.

"I was also fortunate enough to spend time with Mother Teresa when she was hardly known. Mother was Mother... a dedicated, tough and loving person," says Rai, whose award winning photo of a Bhopal gas tragedy child just before burial made him an icon of tragedy.

But Rai laments that the quality of news photographs has degenerated with times. "The front pages don't breathe any more..."

"Most of the editors, being wordsmiths think they can change the world too, without realising that while brickwork (text) is essential, good picture opens a window to the world," he says. "They just cannot read the pictures. They are visually illiterate," Rai says.

"It is interesting and attractive pictures that the reader wants to see... but they do not have time to think about that," he says, but quickly adds that "some of the pictures of tsunami were touching and very good. Justice was done to tsunami".

"For a photographer, the catch lies in living those moments for himself," says Rai.