She's the youngest of three sisters.
When the oldest was born, her parents made a photo album of the newborn for every month; the second child arrived and the parents ensured an album for each year. The third one came; she barely had pictures of her childhood.
Call it destiny or a stroke of irony, Amrita Samant took her 'have-not' status into her stride and let her creative pursuits fly far and wide.
Based in Chennai and Bengaluru, photographer Amrita Samant, the creator of the brand MommyshotsbyAmrita, has covered more than 6,000 shoots, capturing the expecting mothers and their precious moments with their newborns.
In a career spanning 12 years, Amrita has shot with the biggest superstars of the country-Yash, Ram Charan-the star cricketers Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and actors like Kajal Aggarwal, Sameera Reddy, Gauahar Khan, Gul Panag, to name a few.
Yash with his son Yatharv
She has carved a niche of her own in the changing landscape of maternity shoots in India and earned the trust of new mothers for documenting their life-altering moments.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Amrita Samant looks back at her journey, shares her work experience with Yash, Ram Charan and talks about how far India has come to embrace maternity shoots, bypassing the age-old superstitions, pre-conceived notions and societal taboo.
'Yash, Ram Charan Smiled When We Made Their Children Smile'
Amrita met Kannada superstar Yash at the peak of his career. Yash and Radhika welcomed their first child, a daughter named Ayra, in December 2018, around the time when KGF: Chapter 1 released and ruled the box office.
Contrary to her expectations and apprehensions, Amrita met Yash, the dad, and not a superstar, who wanted a happy baby shoot.
"My most impacting experience was with actors Yash and Ram Charan. It's a tie between them. After KGF, Yash was at the peak of his career. I was prepared to meet a larger-than-life superstar. But I was surprised when I walked into his house. The warmest guy was chilling at home. He introduced himself. He and Radhika (wife) made me sit down, asked me personal questions to know me personally, to know about my journey.
Yash with daughter Ayra and Yatharv
"I didn't expect the shoot to go that way. I was looking forward to meeting a lot of security personnel at his lawn, having a limited conversation. But it was just the opposite. Yash is, actually, such a person, whose energy you can feel from 4 feet away. There's an aura. But he's rooted in kindness," Amrita tells us.
Yash and Radhika welcomed their son, Yatharv, in October 2019.
Ram Charan Wanted To See What We Could Do
Amrita and her team had a similar 'humbling' experience with the power couple Ram Charan and Upasana.
They welcomed their first daughter, Klin Kaara Konidela, in June 2023. This year, they welcomed twins-Shiva Ram Konidela, Anveera Devi Konidela.
"Ram Charan is very easy to speak to. He and Upasana treated me and my team like we were invited as guests to their party. Ram Charan is very interested to see what you can do. No direction, no demand. I thought a personality like him would have some vision. He said, 'Just capture my kids. Don't force them to smile. Let them be as they are,'" Amrita tells NDTV.
Asked about how Ram Charan and Yash are as fathers, Amrita says, "They are just like any other dad. There's one part in them when they are very protective about their kids. But the biggest smile on their face was when me and my team made their children smile, enjoy the shoot. They are like regular people at home and don't demand any kind of importance."
After Ravichandran Ashwin's Shoot, Fathers Started Calling Me
One of the first celebrity shoots Amrita covered was that of cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin.
"I covered the maternity shoot when their first child was born. Then I also covered the second child's shoot. They are now 8 and 9 years old. I am still shooting with them.
"One interesting thing happened after I covered Ravichandran Ashwin was I started getting calls from expecting fathers. Earlier, mothers used to call first and then the fathers would get involved," Amrita fondly recalled.
From Corporate To Creative Calling
Amrita wanted to be a professional actor or dancer. But her conventional joint family said a big 'no' to these career choices. Her one sister is in IT, the other one in HR. Following in their footsteps, Amrita also joined the corporate world.
But after the office hours, Amrita scooped out time to hone her creative skills.
Amrita Samant
"After the office hours, I used to do a lot of stuff-like Zumba instructing, wedding photography, theatre, writing for magazines. While I was doing the wedding photography, I didn't enjoy the wedding much. But I explored photography as a beautiful medium to tell stories. My sister has twins. I used to shoot them with my camera. So, I found my way in photography and shooting baby pictures, which was not so popular back then," she tells.
"Since then, it was a hockey stick growth. I never looked back and questioned my choice," Amrita's voice beamed with pride.
Is Maternity Market In India Bigger Than Wedding Now?
In 2014, Amrita used to beg expecting mothers for a maternity shoot. Over the last 12 years, the industry has considerably grown.
"It's a big industry now with millions of photographers making their mark. We have come closer to the wedding industry. But it's still not bigger than the wedding industry," shares Amrita.
'Don't Share Pics Till The Baby Arrives'
It's 2026. Having more than one baby is very much in vogue in India.
But the client's family still makes the humble request to Amrita and her team, 'Don't share the pictures until the baby arrives.'
"When I started in 2014, Instagram was not that big. So, I used to share educative reels on my Facebook, YouTube channel about how we conduct the shoots, how we make the would-be mothers feel comfortable, the beauty of the entire process. Over the years, societal taboos of not clicking pictures of expecting mothers or newborn babies have considerably gone down, but it's not wiped away. As a team, we also ensure the trust that an expecting mother wants to build with us before stepping into the shoot," Amrita sums up the journey.
Trust is the first instinct that an unborn child grows with the womb that carries, nurtures it over the course of 9 months.
Amrita Samant's 'Mommyshots' builds that trust between a newborn and a mother from the core, from the inception of a new life.
Organically, beautifully.
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