For decades, the Pirelli Calendar has been the fashion world’s most talked-about wall hanging, a thing almost nobody can buy and everybody wants to see. This year, for the first time in its history, the entire edition is about India.
The 2027 Pirelli Calendar, known in the industry simply as “The Cal”, was launched in New Delhi on Friday, October 23, 2026. It brings together portraits of nine women with ties to India, shot by Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø in Rajasthan, and a street project begun by the late Raghu Rai and finished by his daughter, Avani Rai, in Delhi and Mumbai. Padma Lakshmi, Freida Pinto, Aditi Rao Hydari and Anoushka Shankar are among the faces, and Ranveer Singh turns up in the Rai section.
Quick Facts
- What: The 53rd edition of the Pirelli Calendar, the first set in India
- When: Launched on October 23, 2026
- Where: Launched in New Delhi; shot in Jaipur, Alwar, Old Delhi and Mumbai
- Who: Photographers Sølve Sundsbø, Raghu Rai and Avani Rai
- Key number: 36 photographs, 18 from each project
Pirelli Calendar 2027: Two Projects in One Box
This edition breaks the usual one-photographer formula. According to ThePrint, the calendar comes as a box set with two separate pockets, one for each project, holding 36 images in total.
Pirelli has given the edition the title “India, beyond a single gaze”, and that idea runs through the whole thing. One half looks at India through a visiting photographer’s eyes. The other looks at it from the inside, through a family that has been photographing the country for more than half a century.
Sølve Sundsbø’s Rajasthan Portraits: Padma Lakshmi, Freida Pinto and More
Sundsbø, who also shot the 2026 calendar, photographed nine women at Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur and at Ajabgarh in Alwar. The line-up is a mix of film, music, writing and sport:
- Padma Lakshmi, TV host and author
- Freida Pinto, actor
- Aditi Rao Hydari, actor
- Anoushka Shankar, sitar player and composer
- Rupi Kaur, poet
- Lakshmi Menon, model
- Bhavitha Mandava, model
- Avantika Vandanapu, actor
- Avani Rai, who appears in front of his lens as well as behind her own
Sundsbø told ThePrint he felt comfortable portraying women from India, and earlier said the project “needed someone from India” to give it authenticity. Pinto described the bold use of colour as a tribute to different sides of the country, while Hydari summed up the shoot in two words: “It’s iconic.”
Raghu Rai’s Last Project, Finished by His Daughter
The emotional heart of this calendar is the Rai half. Raghu Rai, one of India’s most celebrated photographers, accepted the commission and worked on it for a few months. He died on April 26, 2026, aged 83, according to Pirelli.
His plan, ThePrint reports, was to mix fresh subjects with unpublished work from his archive. Avani Rai took that idea onto the streets. She carried her father’s old prints, published and unpublished, back to Delhi and Mumbai and photographed today’s people alongside them. Think of an old black-and-white picture of a flower market held up in that same flower market, decades later.
Her frames take in around 130 people, ThePrint says: dancers, artisans, performers, models, her own mother, and actor Ranveer Singh. Locations include Old Delhi’s crowded lanes and flower market, a school, and Mumbai, where the film and fashion worlds meet.
“I will take him into the streets where he belongs,” Avani Rai said of her father’s work.
Why the India Edition Matters
The Cal started in 1964 and spent its early decades as a showcase of glamour photography. In recent years it has moved toward portraits of artists, activists and actors. An all-India edition puts Indian faces and Indian streets in front of the global fashion and luxury crowd that collects it.
There is a business side too. Italian news agency ANSA noted that, a day before the launch, Pirelli announced a deal in New Delhi with Indian tyre maker BKT to produce 800,000 premium tyres by 2030. ANSA suggested the India focus may have been shaped partly by such economic ties. Pirelli has not framed it that way.
What We Don’t Know Yet
- Pirelli has not said publicly how many copies of the 2027 edition have been printed.
- It is not yet clear whether the photographs will go on public display in India.
- Reports differ on how many people appear in the Rai project: ThePrint says about 130, while earlier coverage put it above 200.
What This Means for You
Don’t go hunting for it on shopping sites. The Pirelli Calendar has traditionally not been sold in stores and goes to a select list of clients and guests, so any listing claiming to sell a “new” 2027 copy right now deserves suspicion. The easiest way to see the images is through Pirelli’s official Cal 2027 page and the photo galleries published by news outlets.
Our Take
The smartest choice here was refusing to pick one version of India. Rajasthan forts and star portraits alone would have looked like a glossy tourism ad. Pairing them with Raghu Rai’s archive and his daughter’s street work gives the calendar weight, and makes it a fitting farewell to a photographer who spent his life on those same streets.
FAQs
Who is in the Pirelli Calendar 2027?
Sølve Sundsbø’s section features Padma Lakshmi, Freida Pinto, Aditi Rao Hydari, Anoushka Shankar, Rupi Kaur, Lakshmi Menon, Bhavitha Mandava, Avantika Vandanapu and Avani Rai. Ranveer Singh appears in the Raghu and Avani Rai section.
Is this the first Pirelli Calendar shot in India?
Yes. Pirelli describes the 2027 edition as the first Pirelli Calendar set in India.
Who photographed the 2027 Pirelli Calendar?
Norwegian photographer Sølve Sundsbø and Indian photographer Raghu Rai, whose part was completed by his daughter Avani Rai after he died in April 2026.
Can I buy the Pirelli Calendar 2027?
The calendar has traditionally not been sold to the public. The images can be viewed on Pirelli’s official website.
Based on reporting by ThePrint, ANSA, Il Sole 24 Ore, t2ONLINE and Pirelli.
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