Pirelli's 2027 Calendar Celebrates India with All-South Asian Cast

The 2027 Pirelli calendar is set to honor the beauty and culture of India, featuring an entirely South Asian cast. Among the notable personalities gracing the calendar are Padma Lakshmi and Freida Pinto.

Padma Lakshmi, 56, who previously appeared in the 2025 edition, returns for the 2027 calendar. Photographed in a white dress and posing in a lily pad pool, Lakshmi, who was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child, described the Rajasthan set as beautiful despite the intense heat. She shared that her name, Padma, meaning lotus in Sanskrit, felt like a good omen for the shoot. "I felt ethereal and like myself, and I thought the whole thing came together effortlessly and in such an organic and pure, timeless way," Lakshmi said.

This marks the Pirelli debut for Freida Pinto, 42. The actress posed in a fuchsia mini dress against a backdrop of bougainvillea. Pinto, born and raised in Mumbai, expressed her joy at being part of the project and her hope that the calendar will communicate India's true diversity. "I hope this calendar will convey our true diversity," Pinto stated. "We are one people of one race, but within that race, we have so much color and flavor and variations and shades... I hope they also see a message of coexistence, not just for one country but for the whole world. That we're all the same: human."

Other featured personalities include actress Aditi Rao Hydari, actress Avantika Vandanapu, musician Anoushka Shankar, poet Rupi Kaur, model Bhavitha Mandava, and photographer Avani Rai. Rai, daughter of the late photographer Raghu Rai, not only shot parts of the calendar but also appeared in it.

For the first time in its history, the Pirelli calendar features three photographers: Sølve Sundsbø, who also shot the 2026 edition, Raghu Rai, and his daughter Avani Rai. Sundsbø explained the inspiration, stating, "Close your eyes and think of India. What do you see? Perhaps a color, a face, a crowded street, a landscape, a ritual. But India is never just one thing. It is a country where different times, traditions and realities coexist, where the ancient and the contemporary enter the same image."

The Pirelli calendar, first published in 1964, has historically been given away to select customers and celebrities and is not sold commercially. While it was once known for its more provocative imagery, the calendar underwent a shift in direction starting in 2017, with subsequent editions featuring more artistic and thematic approaches, including a 2020 calendar that focused on women outspoken on socio-political issues and was dubbed the "wokest" to date.

The 2027 calendar was presented in New Delhi. Previous notable figures to have appeared on the calendar include Naomi Campbell, Patti Smith, Serena Williams, and Emma Watson.