A Way Into India

The last work of one of India's greatest photographers, Raghubir Singh (1942-1999), using the famous India 'Ambassador' car as a means to look at all aspects of the country and its people.

Raghubir Singh who died in 1999 was considered by many to be India's greatest photographer. A Way Into India was his last great photographic project and is a testament to his love affair with the sights, sounds and colours of his homeland, but also with one of its most unexpected icons -- the Ambassador car. Continuously in production in India since 1957, the Ambassador is everywhere to be seen, in all possible guises, from delivery van to diplomatic limousine, and has become something quintessentially Indian. Travelling back and forth across the country, Raghubir Singh reveals India through the windows of the Ambassador. Amongst the bustle of the towns and the majesty of the countryside there are rotting cars and pristine new ones being used as taxis and poultry vans. Temples and tourists, monsoon rains, paddy fields, tea plantations and elephants are dramatically framed by the Ambassador's distinctive curves. The old and the new sit side by side, as Singh and the Ambassador show us a way into India.