Indrani (photographer)

Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri is an award-winning internationally renowned director and photographer.

She is described as a "rad feminist director and fashion photographer" by Julianne E. Shepherd of Jezebel "renowned for her iconic imagery and visionary storytelling, collaborations with Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, and Kanye West" according to Shinjini Das of Huffington Post. Her work was disovered by David Bowie who commissioned her first album cover for "Heathen" and a dozen years later, Bowie launched her directorial career, commissioning her first major music video, for his song "Valentine's Day" on his album The Next Day.

Indrani was born in Kolkata, India, raised in the ruined 300-room palace of her historic Zamindar family, and accompanied her British mother volunteering with Mother Teresa. Both her parents were accountants. She witnessed "the devastating poverty that stood in stark contrast to her own childhood," which motivated her to someday make a difference in the area.

Indrani began modeling at 14, in order to study photography and film with artists around the world, and became a rising star. At 18, she returned to turn her family home into a charitable school, to give girls a better future. The school was named Shakti Empowerment Education and currently educates around 300 youth, both girls and boys and provides women with literacy and vocational training.

Indrani received a full scholarship to Princeton University. She reinstated the study of Sanskrit, spearheaded the student initiative to create a program in South Asian Studies, and graduated with a magna cum laude (with High Honors) AB in Cultural Anthropology.

According to Fast Company, "When Markus Klinko and Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri teamed up...both were already stars--Klinko as a classical harpist and Indrani as a fashion model. Now they are famous for their iconic images of celebrities...and advertising projects."

While Indrani was a student at Princeton University, David Bowie discovered her work and commissioned her first album cover for his Heathen with Klinko. Indrani's fashion work was discovered by Isabella Blow, a "renowned style icon who discovered some of the fashion world's most important figures," who commissioned cover stories for the London Sunday Times. Around the same time, Ingrid Sischy, at Interview magazine commissioned various shoots. Indrani credits Blow, Bowie and Iman for teaching her to push her creative boundaries. Indrani created award-winning covers for Beyoncé's solo debut Dangerously in Love, Mariah Carey's Emancipation of Mimi and Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough among others.

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Wikipedia